Beacons that to us Beckon // Tallahassee Magazine

Beacons that to us Beckon // Tallahassee Magazine

Tallahassee Magazine featured our aerial photography of the St. Marks Lighthouse in their July/August 2016 issue as part of their "The 323" section. The piece highlighted the historic lighthouse in the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge, and we provided images through our Aerial Tallahassee project, which explores Tallahassee and the surrounding region from above.

The St. Marks Lighthouse is one of those landmarks that most people in the area have visited at ground level, standing at the base and looking up. Our assignment was to flip that perspective entirely. Aerial photography gives you the ability to show a familiar subject in a way that changes how people think about it, and a lighthouse is a perfect candidate for that treatment. From the ground, it's a tall white structure against the sky. From above, you see its relationship to the coastline, the refuge, the water, and the landscape surrounding it in a way that's impossible to appreciate otherwise.

Photographing a lighthouse from the air in Wakulla County means dealing with coastal wind conditions, restricted airspace considerations near wildlife refuge areas, and the challenge of timing your flight to get the right light on a white structure surrounded by water. White buildings next to open water can be difficult because the reflectivity creates exposure challenges; the structure wants to blow out while the water and marshland around it go dark. Getting the balance right takes planning around the time of day and the angle of approach.

This was one of our earlier aerial editorial assignments for a Florida publication, and it's a good example of how photography in Tallahassee extends well beyond the city limits. The St. Marks Wildlife Refuge is about 25 minutes south of downtown, and it's one of the most visually rich areas in the region. As Tallahassee photographers, having the ability to offer aerial perspectives alongside traditional editorial photography gives publications like Tallahassee Magazine options that most Florida photographers in the area aren't set up to deliver. It's a different skill set and a different way of seeing a place, and we're grateful the magazine gave us the space to showcase it.

This feature was photographed by The Workmans for Tallahassee Magazine and appeared in the July/August 2016 issue and was written by the Tallahassee Magazine Editorial Team. The Workmans are a husband-and-wife photography team based in Tallahassee, Florida, and we work with publications across the state of Florida, in Washington D.C. and around the United States. You can explore more of our editorial photography in the archive, see more of our work across our website and connect with us on how we can best serve you!