Category: winter

Starting A New Project – The Great Lakes Project

January 26, 2012
Great Lakes ProjectLake MichiganLake Superiornature photographyRichard MackwinterWinter Landscape PhotographyWinter photography

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!

Peace,

Richard

 

 

More images of Lake Michigan in Winter

February 8, 2011
Great Lakes ProjectLake MichiganLighthouse Beachwinter

This afternoon I ventured down to the lake front at Lighthouse Beach, one of my favorite spots, not just because it is close, but it has an old pier at the north end and a small bluff behind the beach to give you some elevation, giving you a perfect place to start from. I’ve shot a lot from this beach over the years, and it is one of the places where I decided a book on all the Great Lakes might be something I should work on.

I knew I wanted to shoot the evening sunset with the ice build up along Lake Michigan’s shore before next week’s warm up. So, with the temperatures around 8 degrees I ventured down to the beach about a half hour before sunset. As I approached the entrance I said hello to a fellow photographer coming off the beach and I thought to myself, why are you leaving so soon, the best light is about to be here! Then I looked out over the water and ice and thought, maybe I should have come down a bit earlier!

Yet the light from the cloudless sky reflected off the snow giving it a glow late into the evening. Starting up high on the small bluff I was able to be about the same height as the top of the ice packed into the coastline. Beyond you could see some patches of open water, and all the way out you could see the icebergs floating out on the open water. Looking carefully you could see the icebergs floating on the waves and moving southward past the frozen pack ice which extended out about 2-300 yards.

The only part of the old pier at the north end of the beach which could be seen were a few of the pilings sticking out of the ice. I shot them from a distance and included the light station at the entrance to Wilmette harbor.  I then headed out to the edge of the ice pack to get a different view.

I always shoot later into the evening than most photographers. By now it was nearly 45 minutes past sunset and the light had a very interesting glow to it, and the stars had begun to show in the sky, along with the streaks from all of the planes going in and out of O’Hare airport.

Finally done, I looked back to see Grosse Pointe Lighthouse beaming out towards the lake. One last shot needed to be done before heading in. So an hour and a half after arriving on the beach and almost an hour past sunset I packed it all in headed to the warmth of my car. Glad I went down even if my feet and fingers were cold. Interestingly I didn’t really feel that until I was making what I knew were the last shots, then I felt the cold.

To see my selections from this shoot use this link: http://www.mackphoto.com/blog/LakeMichiganWinter20110208/ 

Enjoy the winter!!

Richard

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

Images of the Winter Storm on Lake Michigan

February 10, 2010
Great Lakes ProjectLake MichiganQuiet Light Publishingwinter

Winter Storm, Lake Michigan

Winter Storm, Lake Michigan

For the last few days we’ve had a winter storm in Chicago which has dumped over 12” of snow. So naturally I finally said it was time to grab a camera and head down to the lakefront and see what images I might find there for possible inclusion in one of my next books on all five Great Lakes.

These images were all shot around the lake front in Evanston, Illinois. Some places you may recognize from previous posts since it is my home town. The storm was in full force yesterday afternoon when I ventured out. The ice has built up tall against the shoreline with the winds out of the northeast and stacking the ice onto shore from the lake. With the dark clouds on the horizon I worked with the clouds, low visibility and starkness of the images in front of me. It will be interesting to see if these ever make it into the book, but it was fun to be out in the weather and making images again! Seems like a long time since I shot anything on this project.

Ice Pack, Lake Michigan
Ice Pack, Lake Michigan

The working title for this book on all five of the Great Lakes is 20%. Named so because 20% of all the fresh water in the entire world lies within these lakes. A drop of water from Lake Superior takes over 400 years to travel through the lakes and into the Atlantic Ocean. It is clear what we do to these lakes now will affect those who come after us for many generations. The book does not yet have a release date since I am just now beginning to shoot most of it. Stay tuned with more info at www.quietlightpublishing.com.

Pier and Storm, Lake Michigan
Pier and Storm, Lake Michigan

 To see more of the images from this shoot please visit www.mackphoto.com/blog/LakeMichiganWinter/

Enjoy the winter snows! We’re over half way to spring…

Peace,

Richard Mack