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Well, as I write this post we’ve just come off another epic spring storm which brought several inches of snow to the north shore of Lake Superior on April 15th/16th. Also, the weather report has more snow in it for the upcoming week here in the Twin Cities. Might as well enjoy the ride, right?
So, storms it is. I got my tax return, which was just enough to cover gas to Silver Bay, MN and back, plus a flat tire and a few cups of coffee this weekend. What a storm it was…I started shooting at Lester River (Duluth) around 6pm, but the wind and spray were beyond manageable so I made a last minute decision, packed up and headed north to Silver Bay hoping to find shelter in a secret cove I found a few months back. There was no protection when I arrived and had to orient my camera to minimize the spray which was blown by 40mph + winds off the top of 10 foot + surf. It was HUGE surf. You just have to stand on the shore and experience its awesome power. From a photographer’s perspective it was all a Hail Mary. Wind shaking tripod, spray covering the lens, getting swamped by large wave sets. I did make a good decision to buy some rubber boots at Marine General and few hours earlier and they proved very very handy. I like getting in the water to shoot, but the conditions were so extreme that it would have made a boy out of Peter Lik (Weather Channel Reality TV show about a photographer). Sorry Peter, but its true.
These first two images were shot using a Singh Ray Blue/Gold polarizer. The first image was a 6 second exposure and the second was a 60 second exposure at f/11 processed with some fill light and range adjustments in raw converter. Canon 5D MKII and Canon 24-70mm lens.
That evening, April 15 the snow started falling and when I woke pre-sunrise there was nothing to shoot. So I grabbed some coffee and made my way from Grand Superior Lodge back down to Stoney Point to meet some friends coming up to surf. I’m including a few shots of that just for documentary sake.
By the late afternoon, after a flat tire repair and wonderful brunch with friends, I made my way back out to Lester River for some calmer surf, melting snow and clearing storm light. A great way to finish the trip. This image was shot using the Singh Ray Blue Gold polarizer along with a Singh Ray 2 stop HS split neutral density filter. Shot at ISO50, f/16 and 2 seconds shutter speed, Canon 5D MKII and Canon 24-70mm lens.
And a little chunk of video with filters for how this shot was made. Blue Gold on lens, 2 stop split brought in over that.
[vimeo 22533499]
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6 Comments
Absolutely terrific set of images! I am jealous……wishing I was there as well. what a great trip!
Travis
Alec, wondering about the decision to use ISO50 for the surfer shots… I guess I would consider those stop-the-action shots and would have been trying every trick in the book to get the shutter speed down. you obviously weren’t looking at them that way, so what was your primary goal?
a.s.
p.s. those guys look crazy!
and i’m glad you were there to record these shots, very cool!
Hey Andy,
Great question. I DIDN’T want stop action, I wanted surreal. I wanted movement. I wanted energy. My goal was to get the water moving, but minimize their movement. MINIMIZE. I wanted them distinguishable, but some motion blur with the surfers was acceptable. It all, for me, added to the idea. I have one more of them both where the water is all strange but they’re fairly sharp. They did a good job standing still. :O
LOVE the image of the two surfers! Totally Awesome:)
Great stuff as always Alec. Love the shots of the surfers. Love the main landscape image too though. The rock in the middle looks just like a dog’s head/face to me. I can’t get it out of my head.
Holy Hannah,
Now that you mention it, it DOES look like a dog’s face. You’re not getting enough sleep, BA.