Tag Archives: Lester River

Reminder, The Lake Superior Landscape workshop is starts August 8 and there are only 4 spots remaining. Click here for more info.

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]