Anyone who has seen the movie “The Departed” may be familiar with the picture below. If not watch the movie again and you will see it hanging on Matt Damon’s wall in his house, apartment or whatever he lived in. I was able to get a closer look at it one day because a friend had the same poster. So intrigued by this picture I did a web search of the name that was on the poster and the below story was what I found on-line. Before you read it try to guess what happened to the man in the doorway of the lighthouse.
Jean Guichard is a prolific French photographer known for his lighthouse photos. His best-known photo is a series called “Phares dans la Tempete, la Jument,” a dramatic sequence of a lighthouse engulfed in a huge wave, with the keeper looking out from the doorway.
The story:
During the night of December 20, 1989 the storm had broken windows and flooded the lower floor of the lighthouse, washing away the furniture and appliances. The keepers had taken refuge in the lantern room. The next day, they were awaiting rescue when they heard Jean Guichard's helicopter. Keeper Théodore Malgorne opened the door. He realized it was not a rescue helicopter and headed back inside, just as the giant wave broke against the far side of the lighthouse and engulfed it. While this was happening, Guichard was taking pictures as fast as he could, ending up with a sequence of seven shots. Théodore Malgorne survived.
