Category: Great Lakes Project

The Chicago Blizzard 2011 – Images of Lake Michigan

February 4, 2011
Great Lakes ProjectLake Michiganwinter

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!

To see more images from this shoot use this link: http://www.mackphoto.com/blog/LakeMichiganWinterStorm/index.html

And to see some shots from past years you can check these out:

Winter 2010: http://www.mackphoto.com/blog/LakeMichiganWinter/index.html

Winter 2008: http://www.mackphoto.com/blog/LighthouseBeachWinter/index.htm

Cheers,

Richard Mack

Grosse Point Lighthouse

August 24, 2010
Great Lakes ProjectLighthouse Beach

Last night I was able to get up to the top of Grosse Point Lighthouse to shoot the shot I had in mind for the Evanston Leadership Council poster. There are a lot of photographers living in this town and the city has many existing shots which most of us have seen over the years. I wanted to capture something most have not seen. My idea was to get into the light station and shoot across the Fresnel lens looking back at the city and lake. In my mind it would be a great shot – with the city rising by the lake while in the foreground you had a new perspective on the cities most icon symbol – Grosse Point Lighthouse. Well, what happens most of the time when you go after preconceived ideas is they don’t work out exactly like you thought. Evanston seems to have lots of tall buildings in its downtown space so I had envisioned a downtown area with the tall buildings standing by the lake. I had forgotten how far back the city really is from the edge of the lake, and the fact that from the north, at this point of land which juts out into the lake, the buildings are not the packed in look I thought they would be.

This means you adjust your thinking, reposition for a different shot which presents itself to you and begin to think outside those preconceived notions. Get in closer to the Fresnel lens, work with the full moon which was rising – and one reason for going up this particular night. And yes, you may have to switch from the wide angle lens to make that moon show up a little better. I even shot a series with the specific idea of stitching them together in Photoshop to make a panoramic image which would include more of the lake. As night fell the light from the Fresnel lens began to illuminate the inside of the lighthouse and I balanced the interior and exterior exposures which had been in my original preconceived vision of what I wanted.

While the shots were not what I had in my mind when I ascended the 116 steps to the top they work for me and in the end it was a great night of shooting for this fine city. Once on the ground I looked up and saw the moon coming closer to the lighthouse from the ground, so with mosquito’s biting away and darkness already upon me I continued to shoot from the ground looking up. Now I confess the final shot in the series from the ground is a compost of the correct exposure for the moon and one for Grosse Point Lighthouse. By this time of night the exposures were up to 6 seconds – way out of the scope of the moon which moves in the sky in that time frame. But I knew that…

I want to thank Don Terras who is curator of the lighthouse for letting me in to get these shots. If you want to know more about Grosse Point Lighthouse check out their website, or come take a tour on the weekend, and buy Don’s book, The Grosse Point Lighthouse (ISBN#0964855801) a great book which also includes a history of this light station and others around the Great Lakes.

To see the entire take from the evening go to http://www.mackphoto.com/blog/GrossePointLighthouse/

To se what I shot of the old Lighthouse Beach Pier last Friday when rain kept us from shooting in the lighthouse go to http://www.mackphoto.com/blog/LighthouseBeachPier/

Peace,

Richard

Lighthouse Beach Old Pier

August 21, 2010
Great Lakes ProjectLake MichiganLighthouse BeachLighthouse Beach PierPhotographyRichard Mack Photography

Last night I was hoping to shoot from the top of Grosse Pointe Lighthouse but alas, the weather moved in and it was not to be. Yet, because the week has been filled with detailed work I really wanted to get out and shoot, so I headed down to Lighthouse Beach anyway to one of my favorite places the old pier at the end of the beach. I went just before sunset, which sets behind you in this case, to get the dusk look which I have done before. One thing I wanted to do was shoot basically the same shot I’ve done before so I have many years worth of images showing the rise and fall of the lake levels – which are currently high it seems to me.

Of course as I pulled out my camera a light sprinkle began. Figures. Hence the reason I am not at the top of the lighthouse. After shooting my “standard” shot, with the water in motion I began to play. I’ve talked before about getting out of your comfort zone and doing something slightly different than what you’ve done before.

I zoomed in closer to the end of the old stumps out in the water and began a series of images with the sky and pier in different positions. Each exposure was between 8 and 30 seconds which gives you the whispy look to the water. Even though there was a heavy overcast the clouds did add to the shots.

As darkness fell further I moved in even closer to just a few of the piers old stumps and made a few final exposures, the last one being 8 minutes long (top image). Now the water looks like mist or clouds themselves. I was very happy with the results and hope they will make the final cut in my next book 20% on all five of the Great Lakes.

One final note for those interested, yes I shot them all in RAW, always shoot RAW. The color balance started at 5500 but changed over the evening until it was 8000 degrees Kelvin. I know I could have changed this in Photoshop but I like to do as much in camera as possible. By the time I was done shooting it was just over 45 minutes after sunset. I was glad I was able to get out and shoot again. It always seems like it’s been too long when I finally get out there. I’m hoping Monday to get to the top of the Lighthouse and shoot the shot for the city of Evanston. Besides, it’s the perfect night to shoot the full moon rising!

Get out there!

Peace,

Richard

Lake Michigan Foggy Morning

July 27, 2010
Great Lakes ProjectLake Michigan

Last Sunday I was helping a friend of mine Julie Crawford shoot the YMCA’s Youth Triathlon here in Evanston. It takes place along the lakefront and for the first time in about a month was actually cool outside! Which lead to the fog rolling in well into the morning. As I walked along the lakefront I decided to take a few shots which may or may not end up in a book I am working on titled 20%. It covers the five Great Lakes which hold 20% of the world’s entire fresh water supply. As I looked out into the lake the fog would roll in heavy for a moment and then clear a bit, only to return. Often the horizon was never visible, only a wall where the water meet the sky of solid gray. These flat images seemed to me to be perfect for subject matter. The almost monotone feeling would also make for great black & white images – although they almost look that way in color already.

You never know what images will stick with you through an entire project, maybe these will, maybe they won’t, but they had to be shot! Plus it made me feel like I was progressing on this project! For the last few weeks I’ve been buried with other work n the publishing side and felt I just wanted to get back to shooting my own projects, hop in the camper and take off for a swing around Lake Superior. That won’t happen for awhile, but just shooting these quick simple shots helped!

To see a few additional images use this link: Lake Michigan Fog

Peace,
Richard