Jean Guichard spent his childhood on the coast of Brittany before completing his military service in the French navy sailing the treacherous waters off northern Canada and Iceland. He took up photography on his return and has since been active as a photojournalist, initially covering internal French politics, but soon branching out to international news and later to maritime photography. His friendship with yachtsman Eric Tabarly inspired him to begin his unique study of lighthouses, which he started nearly fifteen years ago. Guichard's work has been featured on the cover of "Newsweek" and "Paris Match" and his cards, posters, and calendars of maritime subjects sell hundreds of thousands of… copies every year. Ken Trethewey, a descendant of the lighthouse keepers of Eddystone, Britain's most famous lighthouse, is the founder and chairman of the Lighthouse Society of Great Britain. For the past five years, he has written, published, and continually updated his "Encyclopedia of Lighthouses," The 2002 edition contains over 7000 entries.