Lake Michigan Ice. March 1, 2021

 March 1, 2021. 5:35pm

An evening shot, unusual for me. I actually went out to scout the ice as the recent snows left pockets of snow where I could easily sink to my waist. Snowshoes will be part of the plan for next winter.

Lake Michigan Ice. December 26, 2020

 December 26, 7:31 am

Lake Michigan Ice. March 5, 2021

 March 5, 2021. 6:49am 27°

Lake Michigan Ice. March 3, 2021

 March 3, 2021. 6:06am. 39°

I enjoy the morning twilight. I imagine it rotates around the earth, always preceding the sunrise.

Lake Michigan Ice. March 2, 2021

 March 2, 2021. 6:28am 20°

I went back this morning to shoot this scene with a 20mm to compare with the 40 from yesterday. A layer. of pancake ice is rolling with the waves

Lake Michigan Ice March 1, 2021

 March 1, 2021 5:32pm

I haven't made it to the lake in the evening this winter until tonight. I actually went to scout it out for tomorrow morning. This was shot about 10 minutes before sunset. The ice ball is about 2.5 feet in diameter and the wave that dropped it on this ledge must have been a big one. I would have liked a wider lens but only brought a 40mm.

Lake Michigan Ice. January 20, 2021

 01/20/2021 7:04am

The pancake ice started around the second half of January. The last couple of years it has been more common to see it. Sometimes they are small, about 2 feet in diameter, but this year 4-5 feet was the average and they stretched out pretty far. The actual light at this time is bluer than I show here. I just wanted a more neutral color cast for this one.

Lake Michigan Ice. January 23, 2021

 01/23/2021 around 7:15am.

I'm back.

The ice has come back a little later this winter. There was a bit of sheet ice in December but it never built up and it ended up melting away. Then a few storms came and along with them some good sized ice balls, some bigger than basketballs. You don't want to be in the path of a wave carrying ice balls. After that came a lot pancake ice. There are four distinct ridges of ice that have built up, each one the result of a storm that froze. This shot is of the ice when it started building up just several weeks ago.

Trying out a new lens, a 20mm f/1.8. Pretty sharp, low chromatic aberrations, a little distortion but not bad. A big plus is that it has an aperture ring that is easy to maneuver with gloves. but it also has AF/MF and step-less aperture switches which might be moved inadvertently with gloves. Camera gear is not really designed with winter in mind. Not at all.

There is an irony in trying to make fluid and balanced images while standing several feet from the edge of the ice while  trying to configure camera settings with different filters in the cold blowing wind with frozen fingers.