Tahquamenon Bay | Lake Superior
by Mark ~ August 8th, 2007. Filed under: Destinations, Great Lakes, Michigan, landscape, nature photography.I am back from 5 days up in Michigan’s Upper Penninsula for a little R&R (and of course a little photography mixed in). Since I have not had internet access since last Friday, I came back to see quite a few spams posted in my blog. Sorry about that folks, they were particularly bad ones that got through my spam filter. So I have re-enabled my Captcha codes for comments to hopefully get my spam net at 100% again. Sorry for any inconvenience, but they are necessary apparently.
I am still going through about 10 gig’s of images I shot - all types of subjects - from landscapes to wildlife to abstracts. This particular one was from one of the highlight locations up there. Locals are reporting that Lake Superior water levels are down as much as 4-5 feet. The US Army Corp of Engineers report it is down only 13 inches from last year. Regardless, the results are some very cool sand bar formations along some of the bays. This is a new beach I found (new to me at least) that had a great assortment of rocks as well. Quite frankly, the low water levels, the sand bars, and these rocks made this a landscape photographer’s dream. All you needed was the right light.
This image is processed only in Lightroom - but given the complexity of tones in some of these, I may tweak them a little further with some Luminosity Masking. I would call this somewhat of a marathon morning. The light, clouds and even the beach were changing very rapidly. With the wind blowing toward shore, the sand bars were changing constantly. I had a mixture of things I wanted to do - from wide landscapes, to more intimate smaller landscapes, experimenting with my Singh Ray Vari-ND filter, to closeups of rocks. There was such an overwhelming amount of subject matter here, you really had to work the area efficiently before the light became too harsh. I arrived shortly before civil twilight (about 5:50 am this time of year) and wrapped up around 9:00 am.
All in all, it was a fairly productive morning. I have some more blog material I thought of for the coming days and I will be able to process more shots.
August 9th, 2007 at ?
Wow! Mark. That shot alone was worth the price of admission!
A whole 5 days without internet access. Impressive. 
I’ll be headed out to San Francisco in about 2 weeks. We’ll be staying in Carmel, just north of Big Sur. I’m looking forward to exploring every single morning and evening. I ought to come back with a serious load of photos and lots to talk about.
Regarding that Spam, I find that Spam Karma 2 works very well. My spam capture rate is as close to 100% as I can get. Occasionally, for those marginal spams, the message gets put into moderation and I have to look at it, but none of it gets through to the blog. Lately, it’s been capturing about 50-80 spams/day. If you are interested: http://unknowngenius.com/blog/wordpress/spam-karma/
August 9th, 2007 at ?
Hi Paul,
I used to use Spam Karma, but disabled it after my whole ‘excessive resources’ issue awhile back. It was one of the top items that I thought might be causing issues. I haven’t had the nerve to try it again.
I am soo jealous!! The Carmel and Big Sur areas are absolutely gorgeous. You won’t want to leave!! Prepare for some long days!
August 9th, 2007 at ?
Hi Paul -
Lovely photo - and interesting thoughts. In my photography, I explore the feelings and thoughts invoked by water and rock frequently. I have the opportunity to work at both the coast and in the mountains and so have spent a lot of time at the beach and deep in the woods on rivers.
It’s hard to describe the feelings of peace, awe, inspiration that comes when you are so close, and so closely observing, these elements of nature.
Thanks for all your great blogging. I check the site daily.
Dan
August 9th, 2007 at ?
Amazing image Mark, the reflections are beautiful in this, I am hoping to make my way to the U.P. in the next year or so, hopefully you could give me some info on must see places to see and shoot.
August 9th, 2007 at ?
Wonderful shot Mark! Your right, there was a lot going but the end result is spectacular. Would you mind if I highlight this shot on the FocalPower blog?
Can’t wait to see some of the rest from this trip. (I’m still working on some images from a similar R&R trip to Mendocino from 2 weeks ago..)
August 9th, 2007 at ?
Awesome capture. Composition is nice and the drama is magnificent.
August 9th, 2007 at ?
Wow…really beautiful shot. I love the reflection of the sky and clouds in the water as well as the cloud formations and color themselves. Great!
August 9th, 2007 at ?
Hi Mark Fantastic Photo, you have a definite emotional connection with the environment and it shows in your images.
I have always felt a connection with the ocean and wilderness, it refreshes and rejuvenates my mind and soul which I try to capture with my camera.
Regards …………. Aubrey
August 10th, 2007 at ?
i love the color scheme. the sky is a palette all it’s own. way to capture a beautiful sky!
smiles,
tina =).