Tag: Water
Lake Michigan Overlook
Dead Tree By The Lake
Sail Away
Just At The Edge
I’m sticking with words about pictures today because if I were to give you other words, they’d probably be ugly and frustrated as that is very much the mood I’m in today.
As for the words about pictures, I took a ridiculous number of photos of water while I was away. Moving, reflecting, tiny waves breaking, splashes and just whatever I could try to get while I had it in front of me. This is one of many favorites from the trip because of the point in time I managed to capture this one. It is the moment before the little wave falls completely over the edge of the rock. I have so many in this sequence, both before and after, I could probably turn it into a video, but this one stood out for me. I’m certain I’ll have more water pics in the days to come, but this one seemed really fitting for today, that feeling of hanging on the edge.
First Wisconsin Sunset
The very first night we got into Door County, we took enough time to get checked in to where we were staying and drop off our bags before we headed right back out even though we’d been in the car for well over 11 hours. We wanted to scout out a few areas before the next day and we needed to hunt down some place to eat.
The first place I wanted to check out was a place to get a good view of the sunset that I’d found on Google maps. It looked to be the ideal spot.
I especially loved the small pool of water with only a small strip of shore between it and the lake. When we checked the spot out, only 1 person was there with their dog. Little did we know that everyone else on the peninsula also thought it was the ideal sunset viewing spot. When we came back after doing a bit more scouting, it was packed with people. Since it wasn’t an official park, there wasn’t any parking and the road just dead ended at the shore, so everyone was parked along this narrow twisty piece with a really steep incline.
There were very few spots to stand to get pictures as the shore was lined with people in chairs and sitting on the rocks. I was really thankful that the area right in front of the little pool was open. I did have to avoid a couple of heads and dogs trying to photobomb me, but I managed to get several awesome shots.
We only stayed until the sun dropped below the cloud line before we left. We were exhausted from the drive and wanted a chance to just go chill out for a while without being surrounded by people and gnats. The clouds gave us a stunning sunset, but made it impossible for us to get a good night for star viewing so we didn’t even attempt it that first night.
Northern End Of Door County Peninsula
These were all taken from the boat launch spot we found for our first night of star viewing. It is one of the very few spots we found that didn’t already have at least a half a dozen people hanging out, but it is obvious that others had been there before us.
We really found this spot at a perfect time. The sun was just beginning to set on the other side of the bit of land that juts out to the side. It created some really pretty effects on the water. And yes, I spent a stupid amount of time taking pictures of the water and the splashes and the little bitty waves that were coming on shore.
The boat launch was in this good sized slightly enclosed bay on the very northern edge of the Door County Peninsula. It was surrounded by private homes and properties, so it was quiet. Granted, nearly the entire northern tip of the peninsula was on the quiet side and one of the the things I liked the most about where we ended up staying.
This entire section was a rock beach. It kind of blew my mind how the different areas we visited had different types of beaches, all so close together. Someone had found a butterfly in the rocks and built this little memorial around it.
We had mainly been looking for a place to look at stars that first night, but we found a really beautiful place and spent a little more time there than I expected. The kids acted like little kids, getting all excited about this rock or that. It became a thing for them to get a small rock or two from every shoreline we visited. This place made it really hard for them to only choose that one or two.
Last Sunset, Lake Michigan From Wisconsin
Next to the goals of seeing the stars and getting some hiking done, I really wanted the opportunity to get some awesome sunset and sunrise pictures. We were going to be in an ideal place to do this, so I wanted to take every chance I could. Turns out, there is way more coastline that is enclosed in trees than there is open access, so viewing spots were limited for the public. We found this spot on our first full day there. It wasn’t a waterline spot, but there was enough room to land a spot to take pictures. Not much, but enough because it was also popular, like all public viewing areas are.
I was worried a bit that it wasn’t going to be an “interesting” sunset since there weren’t any clouds, but the sky still put on an amazing show of color and the water threw a lot of that right back in stunning reflections.
At one point, I had turned to ask Hubby something as he was standing behind me and I just could not resist this creative shot. It inspired a few others later in the trip, but this is probably my favorite. If you look closely, you can see the number of people that were at the edge of the lookout.
I kept taking pictures until the sun dropped below the horizon. I have so many I could probably come close to putting together a sunset video with all the frames.
After that final speck went below the waterline, the sky reminded me of some of the fill options in early graphics programs I’ve worked with (really early Corel Draw, I think). There was so much color in the sky. It isn’t something I normally get to see at home with all the trees and obstacles in the way, so I was thrilled to be able to get these.
Newport State Park, Wisconsin
Our last day in Wisconsin was crazy busy and really had three distinct pieces. Two different hikes and then the star viewing. The two separate hikes we went on ended up being over 7 miles in total, the second hike being the bulk of that mileage. Considering I’m not overly active, that was nearly miraculous.
The second hike was in the Newport State Park area when we went to to scout it out for the dark sky viewing. It was such a nice area, we decided to check out the trails while we were there. Trails that ended up being WAY longer than we intended to hike, but by the time we realized that, we had to hike pretty much the same distance to get back out as we had to get where we were, so turning around wouldn’t have made a difference in the distance.
I took way too many photos of pathways while hiking because I love the look and feel of pathway shots. Sadly, I don’t think I’m all that great at actually taking them in a way that truly captures the feel of the paths I was on at the time.
I also didn’t end up taking a whole lot of pictures on this hike because, while it really was beautiful, it was also kind of a horror show. We battled clouds of gnats and mosquitoes and I don’t know what else for nearly the entire 5 miles or so. I needed both my hands to wave around like a complete spaz in order to fend them off. It was incredibly annoying as we had bug repellent, but because this hike was kind of a last minute decision and hadn’t really run into issues with our other hikes we chose not to go back to the car to get it. Big, big, BIG mistake.
The above picture wasn’t taken there, but is a perfect example of what we hiked through. As annoying as the bugs were, we didn’t think all that much of it until about 12 hours later when MC’s hand looked like someone had inflated it full of air and turned it into a hand balloon. I still don’t know what bit or stung him, but the antihistamines seem to be helping, though slowly.
Mine took closer to 24 hours to show up. Looks like I brought my own version of the stars home with me in my own personal constellation. My other shoulder and lower legs look pretty much the same.
That particular park ended up being one of the best and worst parts of our trip. Once the bites quit itching so badly, I might be able to let go of that part of it and just remember the best parts.
Bay Side Lake Michigan
Posting this one for nananoyz at Praying for Eyebrowz. Hopefully this will tide her over until I can get to the rest of my lake shots! This was taken from the bay side of the Door County peninsula from one of the many, many, many awesome places to take photos.
Need A Little Cooling
Yes, this is one from way earlier in the year, but I thought maybe a snow and ice picture would make me feel cooler instead of melting.
Black And White Splash Zone
Today is a two photo day because the book review I was hoping to post was yet another DNF. When I get to the point where I have to ask myself why I’m still reading a book I’m really not enjoying in anyway, it is beyond time to put it down and walk away.
So I decided to play for a bit instead. I’ve always really loved the high contrast black and whites, probably more so after Hubby and I got our engagement photos done in that style. It is possible that I like it for the same reasons I like macro; it forces you to really look at the details. Funny how I don’t often play with getting that effect with the photos I take, but I’m trying it out on more of them.
This one was particularly interesting and fun because one part of this appears really high contrast while the other part is more just a grayscale..
My Day: Uploading 90+ Photos
It took forever and I found that some of my images were actually too big (first time for everything) and I had to do some adjustments. That said, I’m now sitting at well over 400 images on my Pixels photo print site. Including all the stunning water shots I got the other day.
Playing with manipulating some of my photos was so much fun, I’ve now got a collection of “art” images that are photos I’ve played with. It is still a small grouping, but I intend to grow it over time.
As always, though, the majority of the images are macro shots of flowers, which continue to be my obsession because some of the most interesting and beautiful parts of the world are in the little details you have to get up close and personal with to see.
Splash Zone
I have discovered that I love taking photos of water in all it’s forms. Probably because it has so many and they are all so interesting. Swimming with the kids the other day inspired me to play, just to see if I could come even close to capturing the way the light plays with the water when it is moving around. My kids kindly played along and gave me some really lovely splashes to work with.
I find it fascinating how this water, even though it is in motion, looks like ice when the camera freezes that motion. Some more so than others, but for the most part these all remind me of ice.
I’m also absolutely blown away every once in a while at the incredible quality difference between my old camera and my new one. There is no way I would have gotten these amazing shots with the old one.
And I have SO MANY!! It was almost impossible to narrow it down to the four I’ve posted here.
I also have a bunch of really awesome ones where the water is more calm, but I’ll save those for another day.
Drenched
It has been raining and storming for nearly 24 hours almost non-stop (still a few hours shy of that, but it’s close and we aren’t anywhere near done yet). Normally, that isn’t that big of a deal but that rain has been coming down in buckets that entire time. Oh, and the storming part. Yeah, that part was super fun to try and sleep through. I couldn’t decide which was worse. The wind sounding like it was going to blow the roof off or the massive claps of thunder that shook the foundation for extended periods of time feeling more like an earthquake than thunder. And it is COLD! I actually had to turn the heat back on. I don’t think I’ve ever done that this late in May.
Between the lack of sleep last night and the night before (thank you lack of grace for giving me achy muscles and a banged up elbow!), I’m struggling to not be grumpy. I can say the positive in all of this is that, fingers and toes crossed, we haven’t seen any leaks. I’m kind of shocked by that. I don’t think that we’ve had a crazy heavy rain like this in the 15 years we’ve been in this house that didn’t give us at least a small leak somewhere. Today, I’m taking the positive where I can and running with it.
Now if I could just find a book to read…
Black & White Flood
Busy Not Busy
I have a week where I don’t have a million things scheduled or on my plate. So what do I want to do? Start a new project. Of course. So, apparently that means I’m actually going to be busy. We will see how much I actually get done.
Dew Coated Hyacinth
This week’s to do list is long. Full of things I need to do and appointments. I’ll be taking breaks as I can to enjoy the flowers starting to come up, keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t get the late freeze everyone keeps saying is possible.
