There is no more inspiring place to be at the dawn of a new day than high above Lake of the Clouds in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Looking eastward one sees the fabled waters of Lake of the Clouds, where in the beginning years of the Nineteenth Century trappers sought beaver and muskrat pelts to trade at the American Fur Company outpost at the mouth of Iron River just miles away along the Lake Superior shore. Turning away to the west, the view of the Big Carp River Valley offers another visual feast. One can spend hours here in the coming light and never feel the near-freezing temperatures that welcome an early-October visitor. Water-air temperature differentials ensure that fog on the lake is a common autumn occurrence, especially when there is no wind. Over the years I have photographed the dawn at LOC in a variety of ways, but this past year I decided to play with a more abstract idea. Spot metering (which is something I seldom do these days) the deep orange area in the notch between the ridges, and calling it darker-than-medium, I ensured that the foreground ridge would be nearly black and the ridges beyond the lake would be very dark.The color in the sky was rendered as it appeared, and there was some detail in the water, with the fog serving as a moody element. A focal length of 142mm allowed me to isolate the portion of the ridges and lake that appealed to my sense of balance and also gave me the portion of sky I was looking for, which had interesting color. At f/16, a shutter speed of 20.0 seconds at ISO 100 gave me that darker-than-medium orange tonality.
Very peaceful! You captured the mood of the lake very well. I like that you chose to expose it for the lake and sky and let the trees remain dark. The clouds on the lake are what is so amazing and the colors in the lake and sky are beautifully saturated. Being able to photograph this lake from the high vantage point makes it even more special. Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful image…I have never photographed in Michigan but will have to put that on my bucket list. I especially like your detailed description of your thought process in creating the image, not that you saw, but that you wanted the viewer to see.
Just beautiful Don. Perfect composition.
Very nice, Don. I have never photographed LOC in the morning. Now I have a new item to add to my agenda. Hopefully it will be this coming autumn.
I love all the layers of color and detail, each has its’ own color, and each has its’ own outline. My eye keeps exploring the ragged outlines then the softer ones, all the while seeing the colors balance each other. It is the relationships of the shapes and colors that have my eyes soaking in every detail.
All I can say is WOW! Thanks for sharing your ISO and Shutter Speed. This information us very useful. Once again you have photographed what must be one of the most peaceful and serene places in the USA.
Like Karen, I’m drawn to the few starkly dark tree silhouettes against the much lighter areas of the lake & the sky. The color in the sky is great. I like that there are no clouds. Overall, the image is composed of a few simple elements which you made work together with your choices of exposure & composition. Well done!
Hi Everyone, thanks for joining in this conversation and for being a part of the beginning of a new year. I think that in one way or another everyone said, or alluded to, what was utmost on my mind as I worked with this scene. It was definitely about the creation of mood moreso than about actual representation of a view. Allowing the ridges to be so dark was a part of that, since in “reality” I could see much more detail than the image shows. And it was certainly about taking some discreet elements and putting them together so that connections and relationships were established in a balanced and meaningful way. I have to agree with Karen and Bruce that the silhouetted trees on the ridgelines were probably the most prominent features in my mind’s eye as I was making decisions. They really stood out and I knew I wanted to make them very visible in the final result. The low cloud was a great gift and the question was how to use it. The longer focal length, which allowed for magnification and isolation, was the solution. LOC is truly a wonderful plae to play.