Check out this recent photo I made of a small ice cave on the shores of Lake Superior filled with ice cubes from the lake. I think it's pretty "cool". It was a fun find and very difficult to photograph because the cave was so small. It was only about two feet from the cave bottom to the cave top, and I had to literally lay on the ground and sort of slide down into the cave head first. I then had to hold my camera up and shoot blindly since I was physically unable to look through the viewfinder due to the way I was laying in the cave. It was also kind of difficult to extract myself from the cave since I was, after all, surrounded by ice. Every surface in sight was extremely slippery and it was a challenge to push myself backwards uphill to get out of the cave. Luckily my friend Roger was shooting with me that day and if I had gotten stuck I'm sure he would have helped me out :-)
Even with last week's warm temperatures, we still have some really awesome piles of ice built up along the Grand Portage shoreline. This photo was taken the evening of February 26th. Incredibly calm conditions that evening made for a surreal experience of exploring and photographing these ice piles. The intense blue color of the ice was breathtaking. Temperatures are forecast to be a little cooler for the next week, so this ice should hang around for a while yet!
Check out this photo of me taken at sunset yesterday by Bryan Hansel. He used his fisheye lens to make this shot. I think it's super-cool! I took a break from photos today and didn't even pick up my camera once... so yes, if anyone is wondering, I do have "camera-free" days :-) What I did do was go cross-country skiing for the 2nd time in almost 20 years. Skied about 12 to 13 kilometers and it felt GREAT! The temp was pretty warm but the track was good and it was an awesome ski with friends!
Last night I met up with my friend Bryan Hansel (http://www.bryanhansel.com/) to photograph the large mounds of ice that have formed along the shoreline in Grand Portage, MN. We met up about an hour before sunset and had a blast shooting the incredibly large and incredibly BLUE ice formations. When I set up this shot, Bryan was not in it but I knew if he was able to stand up on that tall mountain of ice it would really make the shot. So, I asked him if he could make his way there. Once he was in position I knew it was going to be a great shot. I think this is my favorite image of the evening.
Remember my shot "Into the Ice Cave" from yesterday? That shot was taken from outside the cave, looking into it. Well, here is what it looked like once I crawled into it! It was a fascinating wonderland of ice! I had to lay on my back on the ice and stick my arms (holding the camera) through and around the icicles you see on the right of this photo in order to get this shot. I couldn't look through the viewfinder because my arms were outstretched to reach around the icicles, so it took several attempts to get the shot I wanted. It wasn't an easy shot to get, but I sure do like what I ended up with, so to me it was definitely worth the effort!
Here is one of my favorite ice shots from this weekend. This "ice cave" was actually the hole in Hollow Rock, at Hollow Rock Resort in Grand Portage, MN. The hole was absolutely FULL of icicles, and was fascinating to photograph.
This morning's sunrise certainly wasn't "knock your socks off" beautiful, but it was still pretty. Generally I like to have some nice clouds to accent the sunrise, but a lot of times that doesn't happen. One thing that really stood out about this morning was how calm everything was. The lake was very flat, just a barely perceptible surge that was moving in and out of the bay. The trees were absolutely still, not a lick of wind to stir their branches. The sound of the ice crunching underfoot was almost deafening in this silent air. The morning started off chilly with a temp just below 20 degrees, but not long after the sun came up the temp rose to above 30 and with no wind and that radiant heat, it felt quite warm!
