Yesterday's sunrise over the lighthouse in Grand Marais, MN. The sea smoke rising off the lake was unbelievable. So was the cold. The temperature was minus 19 degrees when this photo was made and was accompanied by some very strong winds which seemed to be coming from every direction. I remember hearing that the wind chill was between 50 and 60 below yesterday. I purposely exposed this image so it would come out dark like this. I really like the ominous feel that the dark exposure gives the photo.
I just got home from Grand Marais where I saw one of the more intriguing clouds I've ever seen over the lighthouse. It held this general shape for at least half an hour, which was interesting considering it was fairly windy. It looked like a pretty high altitude cloud and I'm guessing the wind was worse along the ground. The temperature was about 5 degrees below zero so it was pretty frigid outside with the wind!
This is one of the things I live for as a photographer on the shores of Lake Superior. Winter mornings where the temperature rests well below zero (25 below when this photo was made yesterday morning) and the sea smoke rises hundreds off feet off the surface of the lake. Even with my travels to some of the most beautiful locations in North America, the sea smoke at sunrise over the Susie Islands remains of the most fascinating phenomena that I've seen. I look forward to it every winter. I never tire of watching it or photographing it.
The other night the moonlight and the steam (sea smoke) over Lake Superior was incredible. I went out for a couple of hours to make some photographs and this is one of the first images I made that night. It was taken from the pullout along Highway 61 that overlooks the Susie Islands. On Francis Island in particular (the closest island in the lower right) you can see how all the steam is resulting in some incredible frost and ice buildup on the island. I sure wish I could access that island this time of year. I can only imagine how amazing that shoreline would look up close and personal!
A Cook County Highway Department truck plowing Old Highway 61 in Grand Portage, MN on January 3, 2015 during the first snow storm of the year.
The first sunset of the year 2015 at Hollow Rock in Grand Portage, MN. It was a subtle sunset with soft pink clouds and the moon rising over the rock. A one-second exposure time blurred the motion of the waves crashing on the shore. It was a beautiful way to end the first day of the new year!
Happy New Year everybody! And what a glorious New Year's Day it is! Beautiful sunshine abounds on this first day of 2015. Lake Superior looks relatively calm today, quite the contrast compared to yesterday. I went down to Hollow Rock yesterday, the last morning of 2014, to photograph the big waves that were rolling into the shore. It was an impressive day for wave watching. It was breezy along our shoreline, but not windy enough to cause such big waves. There must have been a big wind elsewhere on the lake because the waves rolling into Hollow Rock yesterday were some of the biggest I've seen. They weren't coming in at the ideal angle to crash over the top of Hollow Rock itself, but even so every now and then a big one would hit just right and make quite a splash. I loved the look of the splash along with the turbulent water in front of the rock. It was a great way to photograph the last day of 2014! Here's to another year of fun photographic adventures :-)
