Let There Be Light: The Night Photography of David Zapatka.

By Susan Cornell / Photos by David Zapatka

Television Cameraman David Zapatka’s day job has taken him worldwide – from four Olympic competitions to Superbowls to political campaigns – but it’s his night job that’s really lit. Zapatka captures star-light images of lighthouses in a way no one has ever done.

Zapatka started taking pictures at 13, got into television in college, and has stuck with TV ever since (pushing 40 years in the industry), working at a very high level in news and sports coverage. In 1993 he moved, fell in love with a little abandoned lighthouse beneath the Jamestown Bridge, and became involved with a group when they announced they were going to renovate Plum Beach Lighthouse in North Kingstown.

“I said I’d do a documentary on the renovation when it happens. Two years later the renovation started and I got so involved with the contractor and the Coast Guard and the group that a year after they asked me if I’d be president of the Plum Beach Light which I

took on and still am,” Zapatka said. “That got me involved in ways I hadn’t planned.”

Lynde Point Lighthouse, Old Saybrook, CT

Fast forward to 2013 when he took the first image of a different lighthouse on Narragansett Bay. He shared the photo with his Coast Guard friends who “were as amazed at what I could do with just that one shot as was I.”

Zapatka hadn’t done much nighttime still photography but realized it was possible to shoot a lighthouse that had no lights other than the red light on the top by lighting the scene with a flashlight using a process called “light painting.”

With results that impressed, he went to other properties in Rhode Island. With few active lighthouses with a beacon Little Rhodie, Zapatka quickly ran out of material (lighthouses without a beacon, aka standing lighthouses, are not as appealing to him).

Next up was Massachusetts and then Connecticut lighthouses. The first Connecticut ones shot were four in one night: Avery Point, New London Harbor Light, and the two in Old Saybrook (2015).

Peck Ledge Lighthouse, Norwalk, CT

"It's very rare to find a photography project that hasn't been done before, and I stumbled upon this project.”

He knows he’s getting close to the end of his television career. "It's been demanding physically and mentally, a lot of travel, it's been very

Photographer David Zapatka

Orient Point Lighthouse, Long Island, NY

Watch Hill Lighthouse, Watch Hill, RI

rewarding, and I’ve been honored to work at a high level,” he said.

Now, he’s found this project that allows him to concentrate on a legacy.

“It’s a legacy that I can leave whereas my television career is just so fleeting and there’s nothing tangible I can put on the wall. Now in the last five years I've got this artwork I never knew was in me but has always been out there waiting to be discovered," Zapatka said adding, "I'm back to where I started in still photography and applying the lighting techniques I learned in television but using them in a still photography way that brings to life history right in front of us."

Digital cameras enable us to do what was not possible before. Without getting technical,

film did not allow capturing stars as pinpoints of light.

“The camera actually sees more than what my eye I can see. You can sort of see the stars and the Milky Way, you just can’t see them the way the camera can.”

No Photoshop, no special effects. “That’s not my thing. My art is to create a realistic scene that’s very much what’s before me at that moment. I’m not adding stars or the Milky Way.”

Zapata reflects on that very first "discovery" in October 2013. "I'm alone on Dutch Island, early fall, very warm night. I'm yelling like a child although there's no one else around and no one can hear me: ‘Oh My God!' I can't believe what I'm looking at.”

Keep in mind that this is an island, arrived at by his new-atthe-time 28-foot Sea Ray. “It was a rushed shoot. I had trouble setting the anchor. I was worried the boat would slip anchor and

crash into the rocks. I had mixed emotions – What a great picture, oh, how’s my boat?”

“I’d take a couple of pictures and rush over to make sure the boat was still there. I was pretty much out of breath.”

Fast forward a few months later to the second lighthouse, Point Judith, which is land-based. It was eight degrees out, and there were 20 mph winds. "A completely different set of circumstances yet the results were the same – I was totally amazed I could capture this type of image. Both photo sessions were enlightening to me because I realized this was possible."

Plum Beach Lighthouse, Jamestown, RIRace Rock Lighthouse, Long Island, NY

Latimer Reef Lighthouse, Fishers Island

Castle Hill Lighthouse, Newport, RI

Block Island North Light

North Chop Lighthouse, Martha’s VineyardSoutheast Light, Block Island

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Plymouth Bug Light, Plymouth Harbor, MA

He has a 20-foot tripod at his disposal. This telescoping monster came about as he pondered how to get a shot of the Plum Beach Lighthouse which doesn't have land around it. While checking the chart, he observed there is land in 14 feet of water at mean low tide. So, a welder friend built a tripod to put in the water. "Now I can do a shot no one else has done before. My book [Stars & Lights] has 10 to 11 shots with stars above. Am I crazy? I guess I am.”

Hendricks Head Lighthouse, Boothbay Harbor, ME

When you view his work, you probably won’t appreciate the amount of danger involved. It didn’t take long to learn a PFD, rock climbing helmet, EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon), and ice crampons are musthaves. It's not enough to merely text your spouse when you're back.

A career that has included covering foolish undertakings … and deaths … has likely given

him a greater comprehension of danger. “I do a lot of risk assessment. Safety is paramount.” Shooting many of the pictures he equates to climbing Mount Everest: “When you’re at the summit, you’re only halfway there.”

High on the to-accomplish list is New London Ledge Light which he has attempted without success. “I attribute that to the theory that the lighthouse is haunted and that’s prohibited me from shooting it -- twice.”

Robbins Reef Lighthouse, Bayonne, NJ

The mission is not to become rich. “Sharing my collection with people is important to me. The United States Lighthouse Society has adopted this project under its nonprofit 501c3. Eventually, this will live in their archives so that people will access.” He has shot 150 of approximately 800 lighthouses in the country.

“I don't say it lightly. It is historically significant because these pictures have not existed before now and, with climate change and sea levels rising, lighthouses are potentially imperiled because any big storm might wash away lighthouses that haven't been shot before.”

“From an artistic standpoint and from a historical standpoint, it’s something that needs to be done.”

And how has this project changed Zapatka? “It's really discovering when you're alone after shooting a lighthouse laying on the ground and looking at all the stars above: it truly makes you realize how small and insignificant

Tarpaulin Cove Lighthouse, Gosnold, MA

we really are. I've done this a number of times, though lately, its impact is lessened while working with someone else. Several years ago while shooting on Swan's Island, Maine, in the middle of a warm winter night, and on a largely deserted island. Just me and the stars, for about a half-hour. It was mesmerizing!"

Stars & Lighthouses: The Night Photography of David Zapatka.

Will be on display Beginning on June 6 at: The Connecticut Cancer Foundation

15 North Main Street, Old Saybrook, CT 06475 860-388-0788

A selling exhibition of a spectacular selection of photographs by David Zapatka will be featured at Connecticut Cancer Foundation’s Art Gallery. An opening Reception and Gallery Discussion, open to the public, will be held on 6 June from 5:30-7:30pm. A portion of all sales will be donated to the Connecticut Cancer Foundation to provide direct financial assistance to CT cancer patients and their families. His book, Stars & Lights, can be purchased through Zapatka's website starsandlighthouses.com where his gallery of work can also be viewed.

Point Judith Lighthouse, Narragansett, RI