August nights can be some of the most beautiful of the summer, and the night I spent at Seul Choix Point Lighthouse was one of them.

The image I had in mind: the lighthouse standing watch in the foreground, the stars glittering above required one thing above all: patience. As darkness settled over the scene, the stars began to emerge, dancing across the sky. Then the Milky Way appeared and crept slowly overhead.

The challenge was timing. If I began too early, the lighthouse would stand in front of the Milky Way. If I waited too long, it would dip behind the keeper’s quarters, which I wanted in the frame. It was moving faster than I expected, and the window was small.

There was a second clock to watch. The lighthouse’s fully automated, airport-style beacon rotates on its own schedule, so I counted the seconds between each flash to know when to press the shutter. And as the beacon swept the night, it joined the stars in lighting the scene.

While I waited, my thoughts drifted to the keepers who once lived and worked here. I wondered how many of them paused on a clear night to look at the same sky, and what they thought about when they did.