Last Sunrise of 2013

Here's an image of the very last sunrise over Lake Superior for the year 2013.  I wish you all the best in the coming year!

Sea Smoke over Grand Portage Bay at Fifteen Below

Brrrrrr it's a cold one out there today!  I woke before sunrise and headed out to spend the morning shooting the cold weather conditions.  It sure was a beautiful morning for photography!  Extremes in weather definitely make for compelling images.  When I made this image the thermometer on my truck was reading fifteen degrees below zero (Fahrenheit).  There was also a strong wind which probably pushed the wind chill to around 40 below.  The sea smoke over Lake Superior is fascinating.  It not only makes for interesting images but also interesting video.  I shot some video of the sea smoke this morning that I will share with you at a later date after I've had time to edit the clips together.  Right now I'm heading back out to capture more of today's weather!  

Snow Storm and Mountain Ash Berries

Here is a follow-up image to the photo I posted earlier today.  This is a shot of some mountain ash trees that was taken just after the weather switched from calm to not-so-calm.  As I mentioned in my post this morning, the day started off very peaceful but quickly switched to stormy weather as a strong east wind came seemingly out of nowhere and was accompanied by heavy snowfall.  This photo was taken just as the heavy snow was beginning to fall from the sky.  I loved how the snow helped "soften" the background and also helped to make the red berries "pop" and jump out even more from the surrounding trees.  There seems to be an abundance of mountain ash berries this year, and while they are beautiful I find it difficult to capture a really nice photo of them.  I've taken quite a few photos of the berries this year and this is one of the few shots of them that I like. 

Ice Cap Waterfall

From Saturday morning's shoot on the Lake Superior shoreline section of the Superior Hiking Trail north of Grand Marais, MN.  It was a very gray morning with no sight of the sun whatsoever but we still found some nice things to photograph.  I spent most of the morning waiting by this ice-covered rock for waves to wash over on the right hand side.  The lake was pretty calm, so in about 20 minutes of sitting in this spot only 3 or 4 waves were big enough to wash over and make a very short-lived waterfall.  The wait was worth it as I am quite happy with this photo!  About 10 minutes after making this photograph the serene calm that had dominated the first part of our outing was gone.  The wind had kicked up pretty strongly from the east and it was snowing HARD.  The prediction was for 1 to 3 inches of new snow accumulation by the end of the day and Roger summed up both of our feelings on the way back to the car.  He said "I hope it snows all day!" 

Ice Mounds

Here is another abstract ice image from yesterday morning along the Lake Superior shoreline.  There really isn't anything "overpowering" about this photo, I just really liked the shapes and texture in the ice and found it worth photographing!

A Harsh World

I went out this morning with high hopes of photographing a nice sunrise, but it was not to be.  The cloud cover was too thick and there basically was no color at all in the sunrise.  Never even saw the sun, in fact.  I did, however, come across some nice discoveries in the ice along the shoreline.  When I came across this scene I really liked the shapes of the ice formations and the one little rose hip still hanging on.  We are supposed to get more snow over the weekend so it doesn't look likely there will be a nice sunrise for maybe a couple more days, but you never know!  I will be trying again tomorrow.  Time will tell. 

Liquid Silver

It's that time of year again for photographing intriguing ice formations!  Here is one that I found the other morning when I went out to photograph the sunrise.  The sunrise was pretty much a non-event so I ended up spending more time with my telephoto lens making images of all the interesting ice formations on the rocks.  This one really intrigued me.  I loved the reflections of the ice in the water.  To me the color of the ice reflecting on the water looked like molten silver.  Fascinating!  I also love the thin sheet of ice covering the rock under the hanging icicles.  I don't think I will ever get bored with photographing ice.  There is just too much variety in it to ever lose interest!