La Jument

La Jument_x001a_ is the name of a lighthouse in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Bretagne (Brittany), France, at the Ile d_x001a_Ouessant, which marks the north-westernmost point of European France. Jean Guichard is a French photographer best known for his photographs of lighthouses. In 1989 a tempest raged for days and the lighthouse keepers held on tight, hoping the 1911 structure would survive. The keepers had been living in fear of death, and had taken refuge in the lantern room of the tower. Waves the night before had smashed through the lower windows of the tower, flooding the structure and washing away everything in its path including the television, furniture, and even the refrigerator. The keepers were waiting to be rescued by helicopter. As Guichard_x001a_s helicopter approached the tower (Dec. 21, 1989) he was unaware that the keepers were waiting for a rescue helicopter. Guichard was there to take photographs of the waves pounding the structure. The keepers heard the helicopter and assumed it was the rescue helicopter. One of the keepers, Théodore Malgome, opened the door, and as he looked up at the helicopter and realized that it was not the rescue chopper, he also realized that a giant wave was about to engulf the tower. He immediately turned about and pulled the door closed behind him just in time. The world-famous photograph is one of a series Guichard took called Lighthouses in the Storm (Les Phares dans la Tempete). Since the Brittany lighthouses are now automated and no longer have any lighthouse keepers, this photo is now also of historic value, as well as terrific dramatic interest. This print was made from the original negative. I purchased it in the early 1990s.