Category: The Sweetwater Seas

Line 5 Flotilla Protest

September 25, 2018
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Line 5 Flotilla Protest from Richard Mack Photography, Ltd on Vimeo.

On September 1, 2018 I was up in Mackinaw City, Michigan for the Flotilla Protest to shut down Line 5, a 65-year-old oil pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac. And that is what The Flotilla – a protest by the Tribes of northern Michigan to promote the issues surrounding Line 5 was all about. Keeping our waters safe. It started with a blessing of the waters and then the flotilla protest with Native American’s and others joining in to show their support for shutting Line 5 down. It was organized by all the tribal leaders, tribal nations, and water warriors across the Great Lakes region in the 4th Paddle Out Protest to decommission Line 5. Especially the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

Why you may ask should it be shut down? Line 5 is owned by Enbridge, a Canadian company, which is the 3rd largest pipeline company in the world. In fact, they have several pipelines which go around the Great Lakes, instead of Line 5, which is the only pipeline which goes through the waters of the Great Lakes. And at 65 years old we know it is not in good shape – we’ve seen it. It was laid on the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac in 1953. Now the coatings are decaying, the currents have shifted the sands beneath the pipeline leaving gaps unsupported for 300 feet. The law says they should be every 75 feet. They have already put in 147 supports and need another 48. The currents are stronger that the flow of water over Niagara Falls. Enbridge also pushes 50% more oil through the line than it was originally designed for. It is not a question if it will break, it is when – before or after a rupture of the line? With 500,000 gallons of oil flowing every hour through the line it will within hours destroy the waters of both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. It is time to shut it down!

It was great to see the support. The issue of Line 5 is a part of the documentary we are working on The Sweetwater Seas – North America’s Great Lakes. The rain held off during the event and it was great to be able to be there.

Enjoy,

Richard

#WaterIsLife #shutdownline5 #thesweetwaterseas #greatlakes #lakemichigan #lakehuron

The Sweetwater Seas Fine Art Posters

May 9, 2018
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I am proud to be partnering with Quiet Light Publishing and The Sweetwater Seas documentary team to offer these Fine Art Posters from our film on all five of the Great Lakes. We currently have 24 Fine Art Posters for sale on the Quiet Light Publishing storefront. They are available in two sizes – 24″x36″ and 20″x24″. Each is printed on Fine Art Archival paper to our exacting standards. You can see and purchase any of them using this link: The Sweetwater Seas Fine Art Posters.

Time-lapse of clouds and water

February 13, 2018
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I’ve been shooting time-lapse for awhile now and am always amazed at how cool it can be when you see the final results. Working on The Sweetwater Seas – A Documentary About the Great Lakes,  I have done a fair amount of time-lapse with moving clouds, stars and the water. The other day here in Evanston it was cloudy and very windy until about an hour before sunset when the clouds started breaking apart and moving out over Lake Michigan. I ran down to Lighthouse Beach to try a time-lapse but this time using a 1 second exposure to make the waves smoother and the clouds wispy as they moved across the sky. It was a nice result which I shall use more in the future – maybe even with longer exposures of 5-10 seconds. As those who shoot either still images or time-lapse, which after-all is just a collection of still images shot at a timed interval, shooting at sunrise / sunset can be a difficult exposure challenge as the light changes. There are cable releases now that you can tie into your cellphone, tablet or laptop which can allow you to ramp the exposures along the way but I didn’t use that this time as it is new to me. I did adjust the exposures over time by 1/3 of a stop and then in Lightroom adjusted the images even more to even out the exposures even more.

The tech specs. The camera is the Canon 5D Mark IV with the 16-24 F2.8 lens. The exposures ranged from 1 second at F19 to f11. There are 538 images. Each shot was 3 seconds apart so with a 1 second exposure there is 2 seconds between shots. It took 27 minutes to shot this 20 second time-lapse which is at 24 frames er second.

One more thing about shooting a time-lapse is the perspective it gives you. Once you have set everything up and started the camera shooting it becomes your time. Instead of constantly looking for the next image you can just sit there and quietly reflect on what nature is putting in front of you. A peaceful time for me when sitting by the Great Lakes. This was no different. I also had the place almost to myself as only a few folks came down walking there dogs or at the halfway point of a run they were doing. All stopped and gazed at the sunset as well before returning to whence they had come from. People enjoy the Great Lakes – a precious resource for us all.

 

The Sweetwater Seas in 100 Words

June 7, 2016
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The Sweetwater Seas in 100 Words is a quick introduction to the feature-length documentary film. In it we reveal the beauty, majesty, and challenges faced by the Great Lakes, which we will cover fully in the hour-long documentary. We plan to enter this short version in this year’s “100-Word Film Festival.”

We have released several quick and delicious film clips for our documentary The Sweetwater Seas – North America’s Great Lakes so far and plan on releasing many more this summer which will be small episodes from those who live and work on the Great Lakes as we tell their stories. Some will be about the challenges the lakes face and have faced in the past, some about historic past events on the lakes, travelling the lakes and some will be about the beauty and majesty these lakes encompass.

THE SWEETWATER SEAS is a feature documentary that integrates science and fine-art videography to explore one of North America’s wonders. The film examines the latest thinking about the environmental sustainability of the Great Lakes Watershed and seeks to engage viewers into making a difference. Although 42 million people live within the Watershed, most have never been around their own lake, much less all five. We will take them on a voyage of discovery to rival Champlain’s.

The project will reveal the natural landscape and its geological history, the watershed’s cityscapes, and its vast industrial and agricultural areas. Humans started living near these immense bodies of water tens of thousands of years ago, but it is only in the last few centuries that human activity has impacted the environment of the lakes. To engage viewers THE SWEETWATER SEAS will offer both images of great beauty in the natural world that surrounds the lakes as well as video of the tides of pollution and invasive species that threaten this magnificent resource. By using the voices of scientists, environmentalists, political leaders, engaged corporations and everyday people around the lakes, the story of these extraordinary bodies of water—their history, their importance and threats to their health—will be explored and explained.

We hope you’ll enjoy each and every segment.

Cheers,

Richard