A Photo Blog by Alan Sue

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Lake Michigan / Ice and Snow on the Beach 1/4/14

Saturday, 1/4/14

Another from Gillson Park. I'm a little more cautious on the ice in my old age and though a better vantage point was over this ridge, I took a tamer approach and decided that this would be my viewpoint. Falling through ice is not an experience I wish to have.

I am thinking about winter photography gear and the snow is teaching me a bit about exposure.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Lake Michigan / Wilmette Beach Before the Storm 1/4/14

Saturday morning. 1/4/14

I haven't been back to photograph Gillson Park in the winter in decades. Way back when, a good part of my graduate school application portfolio was shot here in the winter. It takes a nice cold winter for the waves to layer in their ice sculptures, forming a landscape for the occasional hiker or waterfowl. The last few winters have been too warm for a good long freeze. This year looks like a good one for the deep freeze.

Winter photography calls for one good weatherproof camera combined with a weatherproof lens that are put together before I get out there. Changing lens in the snow is not a good idea, nor is using a non weatherproof lens. My gear for today was a Canon 6D plus a 16-35mm. Not my usual combo for personal shooting but the 16-35 is one of my favorite lenses and this one was a day old, so I had to test it out. For winter shooting, bigger cameras work better for me than little ones as I am using gloves and the Canon controls are easy to change with the bulky mitts.