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2011Photo Adventures in Michigan’s U.P. – Day 1 (10.4.11)
This year is my first year travelling to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the fall. I have been wanting to visit the UP ever since I started to get serious about photography, and this year, I was determined to make it happen. It was a Sunday when I decided, let’s go up north! We decided to head to the Munising area, given the drive time and amount of things to shoot in the area. By Tuesday, we were packed and heading northwards. I set off on this trip with Eric Tillman, a local photographer whom I met through Exposure.Detroit and who is a great teacher of photography (he is teaching his first Lightroom 3 class this weekend!). If you are a photographer in the Detroit area, you need to join Exposure.Detroit! Check them out.
We left at 8:00 am, and we had sunny, dry weather all the way up. We arrived at our motor lodge at 3:30 pm, with plenty of time to get unpacked and a little rest before heading out to capture the Miners Castle area and sunset. On the drive, Eric was regaling me with stories of photo workshops he had attended during the fall in the UP with John and Barb Gerlach, and that they came back to the UP every fall to run the fall color workshop. He said it wouldn’t be surprising if we ran into them as we would be visiting some of the same spots they would be. And, true to his word, we ran into the Gerlachs at Miner’s Castle, where a gaggle of 21 photographers had descended onto it. I squeezed and weaved my way onto the observation deck to capture some nice light on Miners Castle, and thanks to the kayakers who came around the bend to add to the photo:
As we walked back to the car, Eric mentioned we would next visit Miners Beach, just a few miles down the road, to shoot Potato Patch Falls (not the official name, but a name the Gerlachs gave the falls in the past) and the sunset on Lake Superior. We were leaving just minutes ahead of the workshop attendees, but Eric warned me they would most likely also be visiting the beach. I rolled my eyes and said, “Well, let’s get there before they do to get some shots in”. And, we did get there first, but I had all of five minutes to shoot before they started towards the falls. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by photographers and I had no room to move. I decided to move on and get other shots of the beach. And, I am glad I did so, because as these photogs were clamoring to get shots of this tiny waterfall (from the way they were huddled around it you would have thought they were shooting a rock star!), I turned around and saw a breath-taking vision of god rays shooting out from behind the clouds. I don’t think one of them even noticed. I headed towards the beach to set up my camera and captured several shots of the glorious view:
Once the sky started to fade, I realized many of the photographers had dispersed from the waterfall, so I headed back to take more shots. This time, I think the lighting was better, as the golden hour started to descend (any landscape photographer knows this is one of the best times of day to shoot). As I captured the photos, it occurred to me that sometimes when something doesn’t work out for you, there is a reason why: for me it was to capture that beautiful sky, otherwise I would have completely missed it. As Eric was telling me during our trip, before you set up your camera and start shooting, take a 360-degree turn and look at everything around you. You could miss something even better than you were initially going to shoot. Wise words, and they served me well. Below are a couple of shots from the waterfall, noting the nice, warm golden hour light:
I should mention, Eric has shot several times in the fall in the UP, saying it regularly ranks in the top 5 places in the US to capture fall color. And after being here just one day, I could see why so many people and photographers are drawn to this area. The air is so clean, I wished I could bottle it and bring it back to the city with me.
After we finished shooting at the beach, we headed back into town to get something to eat. As we were driving down the dark road, a bear ran out in front of us! It was far enough ahead that it wasn’t in danger of being run over, but it was especially exciting for me since I had never seen a bear outside of a zoo before. Regretfully, the incident with the bear was more exciting than the food we were about to eat at Lil Abner restaurant in Munising. One thing the UP does not seem to have and that is good food. And, the restaurant decor left a lot to be desired. If you know Lil Abner comic strip, you will know what I am talking about.
After dinner, it was time to head back and get to bed, as we were to get up before the sun to shoot the lakes. Stay tuned for the next day’s photo adventures!
