Bagacay Point Lighthouse in Transitions of Light

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God, looking on the light, saw that it was good...
- Genesis 1:3-4, KJV

For the past weekends, I spent my afternoons in revisiting Bagacay Point Lighthouse in Liloan, Cebu, all the time hopeful for a magnificent dusk... And heavens obliged in grace...

I really wanted to have early morning shots but with the play of colors that was handed to me in the first dusk I have witnessed in Bagacay, I kept returning and I gratefully feasted with my eyes and prayed all the while that I may be able to capture the beauty of light in those afternoons.

The Bagacay Point Lighthouse stands on the land allocated by the American Governor General Howard Taft in 1904. The structure stands at 72 feet with lights reaching up to 17 nautical miles. It guides vessels sailing through the northeast harbor of Cebu. It is one among several lighthouses showing significant examples of American architecture in the country. It was declared a national historical landmark in 2004 (translated from the Filipino inscription in the lighthouse's historical landmark marker).

The lighthouse was never in solitude from visitors. In all the weekend afternoons that I have been there, I was the lone photo enthusiast among joggers, cyclists, students, lovers, actors and actresses. In my last visit, a local television channel crew was shooting some scenes for its soap opera. I decided to capture their images in silhouette.



In the times I have wandered in the grass fields in the lower plains of Bagacay Point, I was always accompanied by grazing cows. One time, after finding an appropriate vantage point, I set up my tripod and tried taking some base exposures. There were two cows before me. I was not worried about them since I was planning on taking silhouettes. And then, from my viewfinder I noticed a third cow slowly walking towards me. I adjusted my exposure and took pictures of the cow. He stopped just before me with his face in full portrait and ears wide open. After I took his last portrait, I literally told him a voce that I have already taken a full portrait. After that, he moved out of the way.





The Transitions of Light

Out of the several visits I made, I was able to witness magnificent displays of light: nostalgic warm skies, fiery dabs from red-orange pallettes and cool blue skies...

TRANSITIONS IN WARM NOSTALGIC SKIES

TRANSITIONS IN RED-ORANGE PALETTES

TRANSITIONS IN COOL BLUE SKIES

Indeed, light is good and so is the Hand that painted its transitions...