Black River Harbor Foam Patterns

When visiting the Black River Harbor I frequently encounter foam patterns on the water. On this visit there was a lot of foam on the water and many patterns to photograph.

Black River Harbor

After visiting Copper Peak we normally continue on down to the mouth of the Black River. There are many things to photograph in the area.

 

Black River Harbor Landpools

One of my favorite places to photograph reflections (landpools) is Black River Harbor. There are usually winds off of Lake Superior that create waves against the river as it flows into the Lake. These waves create some very interesting patterns in the reflections.

Black River Harbor Scenes

Various fall shots in the Black River Harbor area.

Black River Harbor Beach

Black River Harbor Breakwater

Forest Abstract

Rainbow Falls Trail

We visited the Black River Harbor late in the day. I knew that Rainbow Falls would be in the shade so we decided to hike over to the falls.

Rainbow Falls

Trail to Rainbow Falls

Fall Colors Black River Harbor

Black River Foam Patterns

When visiting the Ironwood, Michigan area in the fall I love to drive down to the Black River Harbor to photograph the fall reflections in the water. These were taken on previous visits.

This year it was difficult to photograph the reflections because the fall colors were a couple of weeks behind normal and there was so much water running in the river that it created a lot of foam. As a result I spent most of my time photographing the foam patterns as the foam floated down the river.

Favorite Abstract Photos of 2015

I don’t do a lot of abstract photography with the exception of water reflections. Generally I resort to abstract photography when I don’t have anything else to photograph or I’m bored.

Black River Harbor – is one of my favorite places to photograph water reflections. I can easily spend hours under the bridge over the Black River photographing the fall reflections.

The Woods – Several times during the year I walk out into the woods to create some abstract photos. In this case I used a slow speed combined with a neutral density filter. By pointing the camera at the ground and slowly raising it I’m able to capture a different view of the woods.

Duluth Harbor – This photograph was an accident. I was taking some extended exposure photographs of the Duluth Harbor at night. I was on my last photograph when I noticed someone flying a drone and got excited and picked up the camera before the photograph was completed. The blue on the right side of the photograph are from the Bentleyville Tour of Lights.

Little Carp River Leaf Trails – was created when I found a small eddy in the stream where the leaves were moving in a variety of directions. A long exposure created the patterns.

Wildflowers – This photo was created using a low ISO setting and a neutral density filter. I used a telephoto lens and focused on one part of the photo, poused briefly before moving the lens to take a wider view and then paused again.

More Fall Reflections

As I’ve mentioned several times fall reflections are one of my favorite subjects. Here are a few more fall reflections from the Black River.

More Photos from the Black River can be found on my website.

Black River Harbor

One of my favorite places to photograph in the fall is Black River Harbor. We were hiking the Summit Peak Trail when we realized that it was getting late and we would be lucky to make it to the Black River before sunset.

The sun was going down when we arrived at the Black River Harbor. There was some beautiful light on the bridge over the harbor and some great color along the river.

 

Of course the best thing about photographing at the Black River are the reflections. Late in the day there are some outstanding reflections sometimes called Landpools. I’ve found this is the best place to be for fall reflections shots.

More Photos from the Black River can be found on my website.

Road Trip to the Porkies Day 1

This past week we took a road trip to the U.P. of Michigan. We were searching for fall colors but didn’t know where the search would lead us.
Our first night was spent in Ironwood, Michigan. The colors in the area were past peak and were mainly earth tones. When we left home the weather report indicated that we would have four beautiful days. By the time we reached Ironwood the weather report was indicating snow.

The next morning we decided to drive over to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park and check out the fall color. Usually close to Lake Superior the colors turn a little later in the fall. As we drove through the Porkies we found the fall colors to be at their peak so we decided to spend our time in the Porkies.

Bonanza falls

We decided to drive over to the eastern side of the park so we could catch the morning light at Bonanza falls. As it turned out the fall colors were the best I’ve seen them. Unfortunately the drought has left the water level at Bonanza falls the lowest I’ve ever seen it.

After leaving Bonanza Falls we made a brief stop at Union Bay to photograph the high waves. This is the first time we have been at Union Bay for several years and were surprised to find that most of the beach was gone because of the high water levels in Lake Superior.

We then drove up to the Lake of the Clouds. The fall colors in the interior were spectacular although with the strong winds blowing they would not last long. We spent quite a bit of time photographing from the viewing area then started hiking along the top of the ridge toward the east end of the Lake.

We then headed back to the South Boundary Road with a stop at the Summit Peak viewing area. The trees on the way up to the viewing stand were backlit and had a beautiful yellow glow.

After hiking to the top of Summit Peak we raced back toward Ironwood and drove down to the Black Harbor which is my favorite location for taking reflection shots. I was hoping we would make it before the sun set and we did but just barely. Late in the afternoon is a great time to photograph at this location because of the late afternoon light. We closed our day photographing at Black Harbor before returning to Ironwood.