As part of Quiet Light Publishing’s next project, The Sweetwater Seas, this past March I went to Niagara Falls to shoot the frozen falls before the weather changed. This winter has been historic with the Great Lakes nearly frozen over, the second with the most ice coverage at 92% since we have been keeping records. A great winter for photography on the lakes. As part of The Sweetwater Seas book and television series it was wonderful to have the weather we did! The link below shows you a film I made from some of the video clips I did of the frozen falls. Working with filmmaker George Elder we spent 4 days on the road shooting Lake Erie, Ontario and Huron for the film and book. On the drive to Niagara Falls we stopped along Lake Erie to shoot some industry along the lake as well as in Cleveland. While at Niagara Falls we had a light overcast which was great to shoot in as there was a slight shadow area in the ice formations but not as harsh as with blue skies. The next day we had a blizzard with 10″ of snow – perfect! On the way back we stopped at the confluence of the Niagara River with Lake Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Point Edward, Ontario and Detroit for an evening shot of downtown. A quick but rewarding trip!
The Sweetwater Seas is part of the Great Lakes Project which aims to look at the fact that man has changed the lakes environment only within the last 150 years. With it being 20% of the worlds fresh water and 95% of North America’s fresh water we must look at the ways it has been changed, and also how we have restored areas, to ensure we have fresh water for future generations. The project will also cover how magnificent the lakes really are and look at how we enjoy them. To view the video use the link below.
With 88% of all five Great Lakes frozen over it is a historic winter. As part of my Great Lakes Project and a book with the working title The Sweetwater Seas, you just have to shoot as much of the winter scenes you can. Lake Michigan is 77% frozen over with ice, hasn’t happened since 1993/94 winter. As an aside, the book project has become a bit more interesting and I am currently working with a TV Producer and a writer to see if more can be done with this project. It has been very interesting and insightful to get other folks input into one of my book projects rather than working it alone. We have refined the direction of the project and as all projects do you may plan on going one way and end up a totally different direction.
Yesterday I was planning to fly around Chicago and make some late afternoon images of the city with the ice out on Lake Michigan. Yet the day’s overcast didn’t lift as expected by noon, so we waited and waited and I kept in touch with my pilot until I had to make the final decision of go or no go. Because the sky was still a high overcast it would have been just a blown out white sky – not what I was looking for. With great reluctance based on what I could see, what the satellite images said and my gut feelings I made the choice to call it a day and try again soon before it all melts. And of course right after I made the no go call the sky cleared! It would have been one of those days where you were either a hero with a great shot or the goat because it just didn’t work.
Because it was also a full moon evening I went down to Lighthouse Beach once again. With the clouds still on the horizon to the east I knew seeing the moonrise in time to get a shot of it would probably not be in the cards. Yet the beauty of the sky and ice gave me a lot of things to do in a few ways. The 15-20 foot ice cliffs with the thinner ice out beyond in white were beautiful in the evening light.
Changing your expectations of what you planned on at any one time often leads you to unexpected pleasures. Going with the flow of the day can lead to something not planned and yet maybe better than what you had planned – you may never know. I am very happy with what I found on the beach that evening. I am glad I wasn’t so disappointed with not flying that I didn’t come on down to the beach. The clouds kept the moonrise out of sight until it was too dark to get a good photograph so my hope of getting the moon and ice this year has disappeared. Yet other images did present themselves.
Ironically as I pulled into my garage I saw the moon up in the sky – way too late for any photography. For the most part it is always best to shoot the full moon the day before, in this case on the 13th not the 14th because it rises about an hour before sunset giving you enough light in the landscape to balance with the exposure for the moon. The last shots I did were over 2 seconds in length, so the moon would actually move in the exposure and make it look oval.
As part of the Great Lakes Project which includes our next book Twenty | Ninety-Five: The Great Lakes Landscapes I headed north to photograph Lake Superior in the winter. I was joined on this trip by fellow photographer Jill Buckner.
When you take a trip like this as part of a bigger project you hope you can return with a few usable images. This means you work long hours and concentrate on the idea behind the project to create images and record the landscape with your own vision. Telling the story of the lakes will be a daunting task. Yet the coexistence of man and nature is always a challenge. With 20% of the world’s fresh water and 95% of North America’s right there in the lakes it is imperative we rethink the partnership between man and the lakes. I will try to bring together the art and science of the issues surrounding our lakes via a book, gallery shows and hopefully a partnership with organizations working on the issues of the lakes.
We headed to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to begin the trip. We used snow shoes to get to the ice waterfalls and caves, walked on the frozen surface of the lake and spent time with detail images of the snow, ice, the light playing on the trees in the forest and their shadows across the forest floor. There are so many places to turn for great images it was hard to decide where to go next. Often it was based on ease of getting to a location by either snow shoe or cross country skis. The lake here was totally frozen over as far as you could see. The patterns in the ice and snow captured our imaginations.
We drove from Pictured Rocks toward Duluth so we could head north to Canada. Along the way we stopped in Marquette. What caught our attention was the fact that Superior was frozen ice as far as you could see until we were near the power plant in Marquette. There we found the water open in an area near the plant clearly showing how man affects the lakes. This is part of our book, talking about how man has lived along the Great Lakes for tens of thousands of years, using them for transportation, hunting, recreation and fresh water to drink and irrigate with. Yet only in the last hundred years have we had so much effect on the quality of the water. We must take that into consideration when we use the lakes. After all, the time it takes to have a drop of water recycled by being swept out into the Atlantic ranges from 4-5 years in Lake Erie to 191 years for Lake Superior.
The coast of Minnesota offered rugged terrain and beautiful places to capture the winter along the lake and its ice and cliffs. We spent a night at Split Rock State Park where we photographed the light house in the evening and morning light and even after a snowstorm on the way home. One night after dinner we walked about 50 yards to the beach we camped by and spent a cold, yet rewarding time, making images of the lake with the vast amount stars above and capturing the Milky Way. Sure we were cold, but in all honesty we didn’t think too much about it as we were excited by the creative process. On the way north the next day we hit several state parks and photographed frozen waterfalls, canyons and details of the ice and lake. Many a time we were taken back by the beauty of the lake in winter. The ice seemed to make the reflection of the clouds stand out more than in summer. One of the things we noticed in Minnesota was how clear and glass like the ice there was. In Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore we noticed the ice in the caves was opaque as it contained particles from the streams and earth walls it had flowed over. A very real view of how the water from our land carries with it a little bit of where it came from. Showing us visually that agricultural chemicals, along with whatever we put into streams will show up in our lakes.
In Canada we spent a night at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park which was more of a smooth transition of the forest to the lake. We made our way to the northern most point of the Lake Superior and near Rainbow Falls Provincial Park. We shot in the evening the ice shapes which built up along the shoreline. The thickness and stacking of the ice had us working with different shapes and the blues of the ice to see if we could capture interesting images of the shapes and landscape. At first we heard the ice creaking but realized we were on solid ground still and it was the sound of the water moving underneath the ice.
We headed back down to Minnesota and were blessed with a great snowfall! We had to stop again at some of the same places we’d shot at before and were able to capture many images during the morning light. As I mentioned at the top, on a trip like this you hope to come back with at least some usable images for the project. I think with two photographers and yes one vision, we came back with more than I had hoped for. Here are links to more images.
Remember, you can order prints from either of us just by contacting us. Prints will also be available in the store on Quiet Light Publishing in the near future.
This year I am really focused on a new project and book on all five Great Lakes, currently titled Twenty/Ninety-Five, The Great Lakes Landscapes. This book will focus on the fact that 20% of the world’s fresh water and 95% of North America’s fresh water are held in these five bodies of water. Think about that. Twenty percent of all the fresh water in the world. Include all the lakes, ponds, streams, rivers and snow and 20% of the water sits in these lakes. And currently there are 42 million people who live along these lakes. Indeed mankind has lived on these lakes for thousands of years yet it is only in the last few centuries that mans impact has been felt in such great ways. I want to look at that impact and how we can insure that our children will have the same benefit of these lakes and natural areas. The book will look at the statistics on the lakes and focus on both the natural and wild areas in the lakes watershed and on some of the cities and industries which lie along the lakes, including how we use the lakes for recreation and commerce. I intend to blog along the way on this project. And since the first trip is upon me next month it is time to start. I hope you’ll join me on this voyage and follow my blog as I examine these great lakes of ours. Like most who live along the lakes for most of their lives I have not been to most of the 10,000 miles of shoreline. I will enjoy opening up my eyes to new places. I hope folks will share their thoughts of their favorite places on the lakes as we go along as well and I invite everyone to leave comments on posts they enjoy or with places they love. This is also an evolving project, one not limited to a book, but to the possibilities of an e-book with video, gallery shows of images and art installations, writings from those working to save the lakes and research the ecology of the lakes. Now a lot of folks who know me know I’ve been working on this off and on for the last few years, but now it is time to really get serious about it and concentrate on this project. So the adventure begins…
The other day a friend asked me, “So what did you do today?” My answer was complete with all the tasks we undertake during a day and also included my work on my next big project of photographing the Great Lakes. As I explained I was preparing for a trip around Lake Superior in late February she was surprised at how much planning I was doing. Yet to make sure you come back with images you can use and not just nice snapshots from your trip you need to plan. And planning takes time and energy.
I look first to the stars. Will the moon be full during my trip? If I want to have a chance at a full moon shot where do I think I want to be when it happens? Do I need to change my dates for the trip to get a better chance for being in the right place at the right time? What is my goal for this particular trip? Then looking at maps, books on the area, online websites you begin to make a determination for where you want to go. In this case it is even more challenging because I have not been to the Canadian side of Lake Superior and do not know what access I might have in the winter. Searching blogs and online sites gives me some idea. Certainly there will be a lot of serendipity involved in a trip of this kind, from the weather and the light, to the ice flows themselves and my access to the lake. All I can do is prepare myself the best way possible and know the maps and my own game plan. Will it change mid trip? Probably, but with proper planning I can know why and where to turn next. And then serendipity can play with me and I will be ready to capture those intimate moments because I had a game plan in the first place.
The trip is scheduled to start the weekend of February 25th. So for now you can see some of the shots I have done in the past on the Great Lakes using this link to a portfolio of images on my website. http://www.mackphoto.com/Creative/l-lakes.html (sorry this is in Flash so those with iPads or iPhones won’t see it until they use another way)
I look forward to hearing all of your thoughts on this project!
Many people think a blizzard is something to be avoided, not me! I loved the idea of Chicago being pounded by snow – but then again I had some ulterior motives. I had just been asked by an advertising agency if I had any winter shots in a snowstorm. I’ve also been working on my Great Lakes book project so this would make some great material for that I assumed. I prepared the cameras, got out layers of clothes and geared up for the elements.
I ventured out in the afternoon on Tuesday as the storm was in full swing. I went first to my favorite place nearby – Lighthouse beach here in Evanston, but found nothing striking my fancy this time. I wandered up to Gilson Park, which has sand dunes and trees bordering the beach. I thought these would make good foreground for Lake Michigan lying beyond. Except you couldn’t see the lake most of the time! As the storm cranked up it had sustained winds of 50 MPH with gusts over 70 MPH. This meant that in addition to the snow hitting you full on as it blew horizontally along, the wind was so strong it was picking up water drops from the surface of the lake, freezing them and blowing them into you like sharp little razors. It hurt to be out there!
Now we all know that to see the snowflakes, you need a dark background to show them off, after all white on white doesn’t work. Even when I placed tree trunks in the foreground, or the grasses, it was hard to pickup the snow in the air. I tried both slow exposures and fast ones (at 1/250 second). A little luck, but the best results to me were the blowing snow which appear as clouds of fog coming off the tops of the dunes and those when the lake closes in almost all the way.
Not your typical Chicago Blizzard shots of stranded cars – but a look at what the lake has to offer on such an exciting day!
