Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Spring has arrived!



Just over a week later and WOW how things have changed along the shoreline! A week ago I was photographing ice all along the shore, this week all of that ice is gone. Its been very warm the past week, much warmer than March usually is. As a result, all of the ice that covered the Lake Superior shore is now gone. Which means, I suppose, that I can get back to photographing the rocks along the shoreline :-) I love shooting ice, but the rocks are fun as well. I am always very "foreground conscious" when it comes to my images... that is to say, I'm always looking for something interesting to put in the foreground of my landscape images. While exploring the shoreline yesterday I found this seasonal stream that only runs in the spring, emptying into Lake Superior. I knew it would be a good location to shoot a sunrise, so I went back there this morning to do just that.



All that talk about strong foreground elements being said, sometimes I just can't resist a more "simplistic image", such as the one above.



After shooting the sunrise over Lake Superior, I headed up to Grand Portage State Park to see how High Falls was looking after all the recent warm temperatures. I wasn't sure if I would find the falls still frozen, or running freely. As it turns out (much to my delight), I found the latter. The falls certainly wasn't the fullest I have seen it, but it was running at a very nice level for photography. When you get too much water coming over the falls it certainly is fun to watch, but shooting becomes a hassle. Too much water means too much mist, which in turn means its hard to keep the water off the camera.



The water level on this morning was just about perfect for making images. There was some light mist which necessitated the occasional wipe-down of the camera, but it wasn't bad at all. Also, when the water level is like it was today, the falls is much prettier (in my opinion) than when it is really raging. When its really running strong you don't get as many little channels of water coming over the edge. Photographing High Falls is something I never tire of... and that's probably because it never looks the same. The lighting is always just a little bit different and the flow is always different. On this particular morning I was blessed with some very nice light and clouds to complement the seemingly "perfect" amount of water :-)



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