Saturday, February 26, 2022

Lake Michigan. February 26, 2022


 Saturday, 2/26/22. 6:38am. 15°

There was hardly any wind this morning though the weather report said there would be 10mph winds. I had not been to the lake since Monday 2/21/22 and with the warming trend over 40° for a couple of days I was not sure what to expect. There were a couple inches of snow most of which had blown off the ice. 

This was with the Loxia 21mm with a 6 stop ND filter.

Monday, February 14, 2022

Lake Michigan. February 12, 2022


February 12, 2022. Saturday morning around 7. Wind chill was below 0.

It's not often that I get to see the ice forming at the lake. The waves were not huge but carried enough force to smash chunks of ice against the ice walls throwing the remnants 30 feet into the air.


 

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Lake Michigan. February 10, 2022


 Thursday morning 7:24am around 28°

Started shooting at 6:50am, the weather is warming up into the 40's tomorrow, the time of winter when I feel sorry to see the ice start to leave. Right after taking this this shot I was hit by a wave of water and chunks of ice from my right side. The water froze on my jacket, camera and tripod. My ice cleats kept me planted on the ice - I would never go out here without them.

Sunday, February 6, 2022

Lake Michigan. February 6, 2022


 February 6, 2022. 6:51am. Around 20°

Same general spot as the last entry, but a little earlier and the tripod was set a little higher. I was surprised to see how much the ice continued to build up in the last few days. The mound to the right is probably 15-20 feet high and the waves that piled up the ice would have been pretty strong. I probably won't make it back until Thursday and there will be two days above freezing so some of this might be falling back into the lake. I'd like to see this continue into next month. There was a guy sitting on the other side of this ice formation waiting for the sunrise with his camera and tripod.

No ND filter as the water was almost still. I am not sure how I will process this image as I realize that these are not documents. The camera did freeze up twice and I had to turn off the camera, remove the battery and start up again.

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Lake Michigan. February 1, 2022


February 1, 2022. 7:27 am. Around 25° with no wind.

Sunrise was around 7:05 this morning and I got to the lake about that time. I went directly to the highest point on the beach which usually forms just north of where the old Wilmette Pier used to be. It might be 12-15 feet high. In the past ice volcanoes have formed here but the ice has continued to freeze a bit further out. The edge of the ice is probably another 50' from this formation which is hard to tell as the 20mm lens I used seems to blend the depth together. The exposure was 13 seconds but the water was hardly moving. I was hoping for some blurred wave action.

The temperature went up to 40° this afternoon and I hope the melting isn't too severe. Another 4" of snow is predicted so what happens to the ice texture is unknown right now. I'm now sure how much time I will have to keep shooting with whatever the winter has left this year.