This summer, I made the trek over to Silver Lake State Park. Unbeknownst to me, this is a big ORV park and at first I was curious as to why all the cars had flags on them. We parked and began climbing the dune and we started hearing the sounds of engines revving and people laughing. The view at the top of the dune was unbelievable! White sand dunes as far as the eyes can see and off to the right, the flags made sense; cars were driving up and down the dunes, stopping in a cloud of falling sand. Dune driving is not really my cup of tea, so after we enjoyed the view, we drove over to The Little Sable Lighthouse.
The lighthouse was built following the loss of the Schooner Pride in 1866, although it was delayed until 1874 due to lack of roads in the area. The natural brick exterior of Little Sable Light was a blessing for the lighthouse keeper as he did not have to whitewash it. When electricity reached the lighthouse in 1954, the lighthouse keeper’s dwelling was destroyed and the light was automated. If I could go back in time, it would be pretty cool to live in a lighthouse. Although, I don’t know that I would want to be the one to carry the kerosene up those narrow, winding steps.
For this trip, I had just got my telephoto lens and I was very excited to use it. Shooting a lighthouse is not exactly the perfect use for a telephoto, so I had to get creative. One of my favorite shots of this day was a panorama of the lighthouse that I stitched together in Photoshop. I would really like to go back here with a wider lens to better capture the feel of the lighthouse.
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Its that time of year that the weather is getting cold and all the leaves have fallen off the trees here in Michigan. Its that time of year where the urge to Go, See, and Do really starts to get me again! I’m not planning anything major in the near future (we’re saving for a Mediterranean cruise in 2017), just a little weekend trip somewhere not far from home. I was thinking, I need an app that will let me input my location and how far I’m willing to drive and it will tell me all the places I could go. And guess what? I Googled it and it exists! Check it out: How Far Can I Travel
This shot was taken at the cruise pier on Key West. I think I’ve mentioned here that my first visit to Key West was on a cruise ship. That day, we were the only ship in port. I was shocked when I made it back to the keys and there were three cruise ships docked in Key West! I think it is safe to say that when the ships left that day, the island had half the people it had midday!
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If you have any teachers in your life, you may have heard that this past week was both Halloween and a full moon. If this means nothing to you, you are not a teacher.
I have been meaning to visit Highland Recreation Area for some time now. I attempted last weekend to try to capture the fall colors but made it just in time for sunset. I shouldn’t complain because the sunset was fabulous and I did manage to capture this beautiful full moon. I definitely want to get back there and explore more in the light of day!
This was my first attempt at a moon shot and I think it turned out pretty good. I used my longest focal length (200 mm) and a tripod, although at that focal length the camera moved so much I realized I need a sturdier one. Even at 200 mm, I had to crop in a bit to get rid of a lot of empty sky.
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One of my favorite fall memories is from a trip I took a few years ago to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. One of the places I visited was Tahquamenon Falls. If you haven’t been to the falls in autumn, it is a sight to behold. The red and yellow leaves blend in with the green of the pines as a background to the motion of the water. While the leaves fall, the tannins run out (similar to tea) and turn the water a dark brown color and create the white foam.
One thing I did not prepare for was the weather on this trip. It was unseasonable cold for the first week in October and the highs were maybe in the 40s(F). I didn’t bring a coat or gloves and I ended up buying a fleece jacket in the gift shop at the falls. If you’re planning a trip to the UP in the fall, my biggest advice is bring winter clothes just in case. Its hard to enjoy the beauty of nature when you’re freezing your fingers off!
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In honor of the Spartan’s miraculous win on Saturday, here’s another favorite photo from East Lansing. If you’ve never seen Michigan State’s campus, it seems to be having an identity crisis, architecture-wise. On the northern end of campus, you have beautiful, classic brick & ivy buildings, such as Marshall-Adams hall here. Heck the MSU alma mater even has the line, “o’re ivy covered halls”. But, if you travel out of the old part of campus in any direction, you notice the architectural styles change. Not too far from Marshall-Adams is the Broad Art Museum which is strikingly modern and I often describe as having sharp edges. Across the street from the Broad Museum is the Student Services Building which is depressingly 60s and just looks sad and outdated (which is my fear for Broad in the years to come). On the eastern edge of campus is the 12 story Hubbard Hall (and my home my freshman year) which really seems to poke out from around the surrounding areas where no other building surpasses maybe 6 floors at most.
During my time at MSU, I loved walking through the old part of campus at the end of the day. One hour before and after sunrise and sunset is considered the magic hour (AKA blue or golden hour) and is the ideal lighting for photography. No, this doesn’t mean that you should never shoot outside of these times (a lot of the photos I post here were taken outside of magic hour), but the lighting is more pleasing and you are more likely to get stunning shots during these times.
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And in case you didn’t catch the Michigan-Michigan State game this weekend, here’s the only clip you need to see:
Go Green!