Category: Lake Michigan

Grosse Point Lighthouse Documentary

October 21, 2020
Aerial PhotographyCanonDJI MavicdroneeveningLake MichiganLighthouse BeachLighthousesnew projectsNew WorkRichard Mack PhotographyThe Sweetwater Seastravel

While we are still filming and editing the documentary The Sweetwater Seas – North America’s Great Lakes, we were asked by the Lighthouse Park District in Evanston to produce a short introductory film about the Grosse Point Lighthouse.

Because we live in Evanston and grew up on Lighthouse Beach, we were delighted to take on this project and help people know this amazing National Landmark. In these times of Covid-19, the Grosse Point Lighthouse has been closed to visitors, as is the case with all lighthouses on the Great Lakes. This film will inform people about the history of the lighthouse, show you portions of its interior and aerial views that not even the visitors get to enjoy.

Don Terras, the Director of Lighthouse Park District, gives us a great history of why it was built at Grosse Point, what the lighthouse keepers did and more.

Because we are just one mile from the landmark, Grosse Point Lighthouse and its adjacent beach has been one of the locations we have used extensively for filming, from shooting the weather in every season, sunsets, moonrises and more, to testing equipment.

We hope you enjoy this short film about the Grosse Point Lighthouse.

Cheers,

Richard

Winter Storm on Lake Michigan

January 15, 2020
CanonenvironmentGreat Lakes ProjectLake MichiganRichard Mack PhotographyRichard Mack's BlogThe Sweetwater Seas

Winter Storm and Big Waves

On Saturday January 11, 2020, the Midwest experienced a large winter storm system across the area which created unusually large waves of 15-25 feet in the southwestern portion of Lake Michigan. With the Great Lakes within inches of their highest levels in history it brought destruction to several areas, homes and businesses along the lakeshore. In the Chicago area, and in particular Evanston where I live, all seven beaches disappeared under these huge waves. Homes along the Chicago Northshore lost their beach fronts as well. Personally, I have never seen waves this high on Lake Michigan, at least on the western side. In this video, shot at Gilson Park in Wilmette, the dunes usually have 20-30 feet of beach between the shoreline and the dunes. The roots of the grasses were the only thing left in many places. The trees which used to stand a few feet from the edge of the dunes were now right at the edge and in danger of falling into the lake.

The sound of the waves was deafening, although the wind overtook our microphone no matter what we did to dampen its effect. The ground also had a vibration from the pounding of the waves.

At another beach just south of Gilson, Lighthouse Beach in Evanston, usually has 50-100 feet of sand which had been obliterated by the waves all the way up to the dunes at Lighthouse Beach. By the next day the storms had cleared and Lake Michigan had calmed down, returning the beach to its size before the storm.

Lighthouse Beach on Saturday January 11th and then Sunday January 12th.

The size of the beaches everywhere in the Great Lakes have shrunk to their smallest sizes in the years since the lowest levels were recorded in 2013, just seven years ago. The lake levels do rise and fall over generations, but not this fast. The storms have also become bigger and more powerful in the last ten years – due to global warming and climate change. We will be covering the threats to the Great Lakes and the Midwest in our documentary.

Enjoy,

Richard Mack & John Manos

#thesweetwaterseas #GreatLakes #LakeMichigan #Storms #waves #weather #Illinois #nature #documentary

Chicago Skyline Time-lapse

September 23, 2019
CanonChicagoCityscapeGreat Lakes ProjectLake MichiganNight sky time-lapseRichard Mack PhotographyThe Sweetwater SeasThe Sweetwater SeasThe Sweetwater Seastime-lapseTourismtravelTravel Photography

I did my first real test of the of the “holy grail” of time-lapse where you go from daylight to night-time (or the reverse). I used the Timelapse+ VIEW intervalometer and software plugin for Lightroom CC to handle the exposure changes. I did this from the Montrose Harbor area looking down to Chicago, an iconic view of this beautiful city. We started the exposures at 6:40pm and finished 2 hours and 44 minutes later at 9:24pm. This gave us just under a minute of video from the 1,408 images shot. For those interested it was shot with the Canon Mark 5d IV with the 24-105 lens set at F/11. The ISO started at 100 and ended at ISO 8000. The shutter speed started at 1/80 of a second and ended with an exposure of 4.0 seconds. A total of 14.5 stops! Timelapse+ VIEW was setup to change the shutter speed first and then the ISO. Timelapse+ VIEW Intervalometer will automate night to day time-lapse using a light sensor and advanced algorithms. This system worked really well and once you take it into Lightroom in post processing the plugin finds the keyframes which you can use to do the initial processing in Lightroom Development window to make any exposure / color corrections you require. The software then makes these corrections for the entire selection in subtle increments so you have a finished piece with smooth transitions for a beautiful time-lapse.

Now one thing I know I will try next time is starting with at least a 1 second exposure to make the water smoother throughout the time-lapse. I would also go longer into the nighttime view to give a little more room in editing to be able to use a longer nighttime scene.

This Timelapse+ VIEW intervalometer and what we will be able to do with it will be a great addition to The Sweetwater Seas – North America’s Great Lakes documentary! It will be in the equipment bags for every shoot from now on! Can’t wait to get outside along  the Great Lakes and do some day to night with the Milky Way winding its way across the screen, and maybe even back to daylight.

Enjoy,

Richard

#thesweetwaterseas #GreatLakes #timelapse #timelapse+ #Chicago #LakeMichigan #Canon #CanonMark5DIV #Chicagophotography #artofchi #earthpix #timelapseplus #travel #landscape #cityscape #astrophotography #illinois #illinoistourism #way2ill 

South Haven Lighthouse

September 12, 2019
Aerial PhotographyDJI MavicdroneEquipmentGreat Lakes ProjectLake MichiganThe Sweetwater SeasTravel Photography

Over this past Labor Day weekend, I had the pleasure of joining a group of friends and family who have met each year at the wonderful Michi-Mona-Mac cabins in South Haven, Michigan. It was a wonderful time with this group of folks for the first time over the Labor Day weekend. I had the chance to use the DJI Mavic Pro drone to do some aerial video for our documentary The Sweetwater Seas – North America’s Great Lakes. On this morning it was slightly overcast at sunrise and with little wind.

Using manual settings, I shot at 1/50 of a second, as the frame rate in the end will be 24 frames a second. It is best to try and shoot with double the frame rate to give you a smooth image. Using ISO 100 and adjusting the aperture until I the exposure was accurate. I always use a polarizing filter as well – especially when shooting over water – but in all honesty whether shooting stills or video it is always on my lenses.

I knew several of the shots I wanted to get before starting out, and while I did not do a storyboard before flight, I had mapped it out in my head what I wanted in the finished film. Setting up each shot so I could edit them together later. There are always happy surprises like the folks walking the pier or only one boat coming down the river into the open lake instead of many at a time. I used Adobe Premier Pro to edit the film instead of the DJI software. We shall see if we use any of this is the final film and I am guessing some shots will be used.

I hope you enjoy this small piece!

Cheers,

Richard Mack

Addendum:

Tower Information
Tower Height: 35.00′
Focal Plane: 37′
Active Aid to Navigation: Yes
Latitude: 42.40100 N
Longitude: -86.28800 W

The South Haven South Pierhead Light is a lighthouse in Michigan, at the entrance to the Black River on Lake Michigan. The station was lit in 1872, and is still operational. The tower is a shortened version of the Muskegon South Pierhead Light, and replaced an 1872 wooden tower. The catwalk is original and still links the tower to shore: it is one of only four that survive in the State of Michigan. The keeper’s house is on shore, 2-​1⁄2 stories tall, wood with a hipped-roof. It was also built in 1872, and is located at 91 Michigan Avenue onshore, was transferred to the city for preservation in 2000. The Michigan Maritime Museum has renovated the keeper’s house as the Marialyce Canonie Great Lakes Research Library.