Jessica London
as of 11/12/2004
| I like lighthouses. I think it's something about
the solitude, vastness, and power of the sea. I've always lived near salt water, and this might also be a factor. I've visited some of
the lights along the western US coastline,
but it's the lights of Brittany and Normandy
in France that really got my attention. Many of these lights are constructed
on rocks totally surrounded by water. You have to wonder about the men
who risked their lives to build these.
Most of these lighthouses were constructed
in the late-1800s to the early-1900s, when the sorts of
construction tools and techniques
that we take for granted today simply hadn't been
invented yet! The English Channel provides the backdrop for some truly remarkable
weather (i.e. downright nasty), especially during the winter months of the year.
Several years ago, I purchased a poster, a triptych (panel of three images) of the lighthouse called Kéréon. In the pictures, the lighthouse is being deluged by enormous waves that reach nearly to the top of the structure. I was completely awestruck just looking at it and I resolved to learn more. And so I did. My first questions were, "Who took this amazing picture?" and "Where in the world is Kéréon?" Jean Guichard, a French photographer, took the picture from a helicopter. Kéréon is located in France. Locate the port city of Brest, in western France, near the western end of the English Channel. Now find the island, Ouessant (Ushant). The Kéréon lighthouse is located in the ocean, between Île d'Ouessant and the mainland of France.
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Le Petit Minou
by Rick Chinn