Lighthouses are really fascinating structures. Not just for the architecture themselves, which are very unique to be sure. The tall spiral column poking at the sky seems hardly practical as a domicile. Which in fact is exactly not what it is supposed to be. Lighthouses serve a different purpose, and if you asked a dozen different people they would most likely tell you the same thing. Lighthouses are intended to warn boats away, and keep them from crashing into the shore.

But, apart from the prime function, and their slightly adherent architecture, lighthouses are very symbolic creatures. And they have been quite often represented that way in popular photography and art. Now, if you ask those same dozen or so people from our prior query, what do lighthouses represent then you are bound to get a dozen very different answers.

Lighthouses represent a beacon to guide you on your way. A prophetic leader who knows the way to safety that you would follow to the ends of the earth. Lighthouses could represent singular solitude. They really do their jobs all alone. Day and night. Isolated from the rest of the world by the nature of their work. And the lighthouse keepers themselves could attest to the very solitude of the job.

People seem to acquire a deep emotional attachment to lighthouses. From capturing them in paingings, photographs, prints and framed posters to actual preservation. There have been lighthouse preservation societies springing up all over the world as many of these solitary beacons begin to fall into disrepair. Many of their functions now being handled by technically more advanced apparatus.

You can of course have your very own lighthouse posters anytime you want. Their prints are everywhere. From calm serene Cape Cod style lighthouses painted with red and white stripes like an old style barbers pole to very dramatic pictures of lighthouse being tormented by the very storms they're sworn to protect sailors from.

There's one very dramatic series of posters the La Jument Lighthouse by Jean Guichard. The lighthouse is being bombarded by an incredible storm, when Jean Guichard shows up to photograph the storm and the lighthouse via helicopter. The keeper thinking that the helicopter is there to rescue them, bravely ventures out to look, but ducks back inside, seconds before being washed to sea by a monstrous wave. The event is recorded on film, and makes for one of the most dramatic series of lighthouse photographs ever.