Back for another sunset and this one was pretty nice, too. We had more clouds and some great colors came up on the surface of the water – pretty unusual ones that we noticed and talked about at the time. Definitely strange. If you haven’t seen Part 1 yet, click on over and check it out. If you have read that and don’t want to see it again, let’s go. More Story of the Place awaits.
First a fish shack near Two Harbors –
It’s pretty small and has a twin hidden in the trees that I looked inside of, but it was too difficult to photograph. Luckily this one was out in the open. Since they aren’t large or heated, I’m not sure how useful they were or what anyone did inside them – wait? clean fish? sleep? – no idea, but they are a dying breed and I was pretty happy to have this one for a couple of photos. It really adds to The Story of the Place to me even though they aren’t specific to Superior. But before we get to another photo of the fish shack, a little break –
I absolutely love the crack in the ice that made for a perfect foreground element and leading line. Thanks to my fellow workshop attendee for creating it by standing on the cantilevered ice and breaking it. Luckily for him, he didn’t fall, but the ice made a hell of a splash. I just happened to be watching as he went down. Totally stuck the landing and I got a composition that makes this shot work much more than it would have without it. Even though there isn’t much ice, it’s important to show that even a lake this size freezes. It isn’t as dramatic as in colder winters, but I like it.
Now for that fish shack –
Isn’t that cool? I wandered for a bit before finding this composition that gives me a through-line into the scene and that shows more of the landscape than just the bit near the shack itself. I was crunching around on the ice, too, but it’s not a shelf so was much more stable. Don’t you love the jumbled mess of it? And the color! I shot this just after the sun went down so there was still maximum pink all through the scene.
Speaking of color –
Isn’t that amazing? It really was that color. For about a minute. It came and went very fast, but it’s so odd that I had to try for a photo. Another bit of luck came with that line of floating ice debris that runs through the water. One of the guides and I spotted and were talking about how cool it was so I’m glad I was able to use it. That and the eerie colors and the light on the ice just makes this work for me. It’s very bold and simple, but I think it has a whiff of elegance about it, too.
And so on to the next morning, the last –
Terrifically slippery icy boulders. I was again glad for my micro spikes since some of these are pretty tall and in order to find the best views and compositions I had to walk around a bit. At first I stood up here, but even though it isolates the boulders against the water and I liked that, there is also a rock just out of sight here between the ice and the back end of the rock. It doesn’t have ice on it and was just a black hole that really drew your attention. Crouching down got it out of the way and I like the frame the icy boulders make. It’s really emblematic of the time of year even if it isn’t unique to Lake Superior.
Like this little tree –
There are thousands of these little guys all over the shoreline, each trying to eke out an existence in this harsh landscape. The moon was a bonus!
And last another look at the iconic cliffs and some remaining boulder ice –
Not much in the way of clouds, but the golden sunlight lit things up and showed a lot of the craggy texture in the rock face and also backlit some of the ice. Not my best composition, but it will do. Scrambling around over the icy rocks didn’t yield any better arrangements. I think if the water in the foreground was also frozen it might have been more compelling, but the conditions were just too warm for too long.
I have a few more shots processed and loaded into the Gallery on Smugmug if you want some more. Ice and some bark and maybe other things as I get through them. Oh and I shot some video, too, that I will need to get around to editing. I have some ideas for that, but we’ll have to see. I’ve upgraded my laptop big time so the video should be a lot smoother to edit, and faster too. Woo hoo!
