All Landscapes

Lake Michigan Frenzy

This is from October 12th, 2019 in Grand Haven. The waves were, well, kind of crazy that day. They weren't rolling in one after another. They were trying to overtake each other, crisscrossing each other, slamming into each other. It seriously felt like the lake was boiling at times. They kept pounding their way up the beach. My wife, who was sitting on the sand next to where I was standing, had to scramble to get out of the way and move further away several times. As waves crashed, the spray would be immediately blown away by the gale-force winds.⁠

Hues of Sliver

We all think of sand dunes as being beige, and water and sky being some shade of blue. But as daylight turns to night, and the sky changes color... so does everything else. In this image, which is a long exposure with the sun setting behind the sand dunes, the sky turned a peachy orange with some magenta mixed in. The dunes fell into shadow, which, mixed with the light from the sky, turned a dark blue. The lake catches and reflects some of the skies colors. It was a mid-August night at Silver Lake State Park. The wind was non-existent... The air was a comfortable temperature but was cooling off as the night wore on... A young family playing and splashing in the water nearby... An occasional boat crosses the lake with a student skier in tow... How relaxing...

Shadows of Ludington

Funny thing about sunsets and lighthouses, I'm never the only one that wants to enjoy and photograph them. 😀 I just couldn't get all of these people to stand still for my long exposure. lol. ⁠ It does, however, create an interesting effect... Shadows of where people were one second and gone the next. ⁠ That's one of the things I love about photography, not only can you capture a SINGLE moment in time, but you can capture SEVERAL moments in time in a single shot. ⁠ I could've edited out the shadows, but I think it's kind of cool looking. What do you think?⁠

Star Trails Over the Pier

Sometimes you just get lucky.  I went out to Holland Beach well after dark a couple of weeks ago intending on getting some Milky Way pics.   While I was there I thought I would experiment a bit.  I wanted to try a long exposure of just the breakwater light and see what I would get.   Let me set the scene.  There was no moon, so it was very dark on the beach.  Other than the lights from far off beach houses, the only light was from the lighthouse (Big Red) and the breakwater lights.  Honestly, I could see only about two steps in front of me and that was it. There was also a pretty stiff breeze. I carefully made my way over near the water's edge, not too close though, I didn't want to get wet.  I set up my tripod and camera and aimed it toward the blinking green of the north breakwater light.   I could see stars above fading away on the horizon, giving way to some light clouds being lit up by what I assume were city lights in Wisconsin across Lake Michigan.  For the most part, what I was aiming at was darkness.  At least that was all I could see in the viewfinder or LCD on the back of my camera.  At most I saw a green blinking light. I did take a quick super high iso shot just to see what was in the composition.  I adjusted my aim and leveled the camera a bit, took another quick shot and decided I was ready for the long exposure. I set my iso at 100 and my aperture as wide open as it would go.  Then I clicked the shutter remote and my 5-minute timer at the same time.  Because of the wind, I huddled around my camera trying to block the wind from shaking my camera.  It made for kind of a long 5 minutes.  :) When the timer went off and the shutter was closed, I looked at the image on the back of my camera and was pleasantly surprised at what I saw.   Star trails, golden clouds, and the breakwater light reflecting off of the lake.  I feel like I got a little lucky on this one.  

Grand Haven's Waves

Lake Michigan was throwing a bit of a tantrum on October 12th, 2019. Grand Haven's South Pierhead Outer Lighthouse was taking everything that the lake was throwing at her. ⁠ This was probably the first time I'd been to the big lake when the gales were so strong and whipping the lake up into a frenzy. It almost seemed like the lake was boiling at times.⁠ The wind was out of the southwest. The sand was blowing so hard it stung. There was a hint of coldness in the wind, but I hardly noticed. I was so mesmerized by the show the angry lake was putting on. ⁠

Sunset Hopes In Copper Harbor

Red rocky beaches... Driftwood... A dead calm Lake Superior... It's a great way to spend an August evening. We left Copper Harbor heading west on M26 in search of a sunset. We were hoping to make it around the northern bend of the Keweenaw Peninsula in time to catch a view of it. We were starting to get discouraged as the light faded. Eventually, though, we found this little gem of a beach.⁠ It's not the kind of beach we were used to seeing in the western part of the lower peninsula. No sand here. Just rocks with a reddish hue. I'm assuming the red is from iron in the rocks, but I'm not really sure.⁠ Those reddish rocks are pretty cool in the daytime, but when the light from the setting sun hits them they are absolutely beautiful.⁠ Sunset found. ⁠

Exposed

No wind... Blazing sunset... Gentle waves lapping the shore... My wife and I spent a mid-October evening watching the sunset at Esch Road beach. It was a beautiful night. As we were leaving and approaching the car I felt a tug on my arm. My wife had turned around and looked back and was wanting me to do the same. Needless to say, the camera came back out. This lone silhouetted tree, stripped bare of its leaves probably from the recent storm only a day or two before, stood there silently gazing at the sun's afterglow, empty limbs reaching for the last of the suns embers for the day.

Moody Afterglow in Holland

I headed over to Holland beach on an early November evening. The sky was mostly cloudy and moody but it was clearing across the lake. As the evening wore on, the clouds showed just a hint of losing their moodiness and began showing a subtle bit of color. Pockets of light began dancing all around the clouds. The horizon, as you can see, had a beautiful afterglow after the sun sank below it. Big Red sat there silently, watching the light show, as did I. The air temperature was in the high 30's or low 40's. It was quite cold, but there was a certain warmth in that light that danced amongst the moody clouds. It took a bit of the chill off.

Sunset Under the Mac

A warm Septembers evening... A fiery orange sun makes its way toward the horizon... Clouds radiate the fire of the sun and the darkness of the night to come... Waves softly lapping the beach under the Mighty Mac... A father and son take a stroll under the bridge to get a better view of the sunset...

Tahquamenon Falls State Park, Michigan

Tahquamenon Falls State Park, Michigan

Silver's Afterglow

After a long mid-August day, looking for a place to relax... Silver Lake is the place to be... Only a few clouds in the sky.. The far off sand dunes are in the shadows... Most of the people have left the beach... A lone pontoon boat slowly putters its way across the lake... A long exposure of Silver Lake taken about an hour after sunset. The afterglow of the sunset and the blue from the sky made for an interesting colored reflection in the water.

A Moonlit August Night

Night photography is such an amazing and challenging type of photography. I really had no idea what to expect when I went out on this beautiful night in Ludington State Park. ⁠ The moon was about 70% full so I was unsure if I would get any stars in my shots. To my surprise, the light from the moon was casting a beautiful light that looked so amazing in a long exposure. And the stars? Yes, they showed up.⁠ I found that as long as I didn't have the moon in my frame I could get great star shots AND a foreground that was wonderfully lit by the moon.⁠ It was a mid-August night... The air was a nice comfortable temperature... The air was still... The waves were softly lapping the beach below... A ship made its way across the horizon, slowly & silently... The stars twinkled above, while the city lights across Lake Michigan lit up the distant clouds... The beach grass and trees around us were softly lit by the moon... Peaceful...⁠

Upper Tahquamenon Falls

Tahquamenon Falls State Park, Michigan

Sunset Gathering

It was a warm September evening. The sky was cloudless but hazy. This made for a wonderfully warm orange glow as the sun slowly made its way closer to the horizon. The lower the sun sank, the more people gathered to watch. They slowly moved out onto the pier, trying to get just a little closer to the object of their gaze. The crowd grew, but the noise that they made was getting quieter. Something about a sunset makes people just want to watch in quiet awe. That's another thing about sunsets, they draw the most diverse crowd one could imagine. Race, social status, rich, or poor... None of it matters at this moment. They all come together to watch the transition of day into night.

Cool Autumn Day at the Beach

Milky Way Over Lake Michigan

Stand Together

A Silver Lake Afterglow

Settling Down

The day started out stormy and windy. After the rain passed, I headed out to Grand Haven to see some waves. I also drove up to White River Light Station. I ended up the day here, at Duck Lake State Park. The wind and the waves began settling down just a bit as the evening wore on. The horizon turned a beautiful orange fading into a little bit of pink overhead. I settled in for the rest of the evening and enjoyed the show. :)

Blue Dunes

Overlook

Taking a glimpse of the Porcupine Mountains and Lake Superior, the sun begins to descend toward the horizon, peeking through the railing as it does. Looking out over the treetops, Lake Superior lies beyond and extends to the horizon.

Spoiled

This image was taken in the Porcupine Mountains in Michigans upper peninsula. Being there has completely 'spoiled' me for any future astrophotography. I was completely freaking out over how many stars there were and how easily the Milky Way could be seen with the naked eye. The weather was perfect for stargazing. There was a slight breeze and it was just cool enough that the bugs didn't bother us a bit. And, most importantly, the skies were perfectly clear. It was a mid-August night... A slight breeze was blowing in from the south east... Looking out to the southwest from an overlook, there was an unobstructed view across the treetops... The sky was completely clear... A light jacket was all that was needed to stay warm... The view was infinite...

An Evening Together

An orange glow on the horizon... A cruise ship makes its way across the horizon, slowly, silently... The sun slowly descends... Wispy clouds overhead... A light breeze coming in off the water... Seagulls ride the wind... The sun reflects off the water... Waves lapping the beach... Beach grass gently swaying... A couple sits... Watches... Taking it all in...