March Photo of the Month: Fish Tug Entering Kenosha Harbor, Lake Michigan, Kenosha WI

This month’s photo comes from my first weekend visiting Kenosha back on the 3rd of March, 2008. This interesting  boat is a fish tug, a boat that’s native to the Great Lakes. This fish tug was first created for the commercial fishing industry in the 1930’s. It was designed to stand up to the challenging conditions found on the Great Lakes year around. There are three fish tugs currently in Kenosha Harbor, this was my first encounter with one.

I was out photographing the ice and slush of the harbor when , to my surprise, I heard a boat horn from the lake. I thought I was hearing things.  No way was there a boat out there amongst all that ice. Then I saw it. I quickly changed lenses and got four shots fired off before  the boat was by me. This image is my favorite of the four.

At the time I had no idea what this boat was, but after some searching online I was able to learn more about the fish tugs and their importance to the fishing history of the Great Lakes. If you’d like to know more about fish tugs, here’s a great source: Fish Tugs of the Greatest Lake

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February Photo of the Month: Eastern Sierra Reflected in Farmers Pond, Owens Valley CA

This month’s photo was taken February 10, 2005 out at Farmers Pond in California’s Owens Valley. Once again I was at the pond hoping to catch a nice sunset. The clouds looked great that evening and there was enough open sky over the mountains that I thought this would be an awesome one. Mother Nature had other plans though and the sunset colors never came. The reflections in the pond were so amazing though, I couldn’t let them go without getting some shots.

I’ve always loved the color version of this image. Even though the lighting wasn’t the greatest, the clouds and those reflections are so awesome. One night last year I decided to play around with this image in black and white. As I got deeper and deeper into the black and white I began to realize that this is what this image needed. The black and white captured what I’ve always loved about the image, the reflections and the way the clouds frame the mountains.

Ever since finding Farmers Pond back in the mid 90’s, I’ve tried to get a great reflection shot there. With the black and white version of this image I finally got it.

Prints of this image can be purchased at 25% off the regular price
through the end of February 2010.
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January Photo of the Month: Racine Breakwater Lighthouse, Lake Michigan, Racine WI

The first photo of the month for 2010 was taken on Jan 27, 2009 at the Racine Harbor in Racine Wisconsin. One of the cool things about the Racine Harbor is the observation deck they have at the entrance to the harbor. It has two levels and gives you a great view of the harbor and Lake Michigan. The base of the deck is also elevated and provides a nice area to take pictures of the lighthouse.

On this day I went out to the harbor just to see how it looked in the winter. I took my camera with me, just in case, but didn’t know if I would shoot or not. It was pretty cold that day, temps in the low teens, but luckily the wind wasn’t blowing to bad so it was bearable.

When I got to the observation deck I was blown away by the patterns in the ice. I composed a few different images, some with more ice in them and some with less. This image turned out to be my favorite. I love the reflection of the lighthouse in the ice. I also like that you can make out the Wind Point Lighthouse and it’s reflection in the background.

There was one bad thing about shooting this image. For some reason the fog signal that’s mounted on the observation deck was going. After about 40 minutes of hearing that tone up close and personal, I had a pretty good headache going. I think the pictures I got were worth it though.

Prints of this image can be purchased at 25% off the regular price
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December Photo of the Month: Eastern Sierra Sunset, Owens Valley CA

This month’s photo was taken on December 31, 2006 at Farmers Pond in the Owens Valley just outside of Bishop CA. Farmers pond is one of the best places in the Owens Valley to get reflections of the Eastern Sierra Escarpment, at least when the pond is there. The pond is owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and they don’t always keep water in it. Many times during the year the pond is completely dried up. (As a side note, when the pond is dry in August and September it can be a great place for sunflowers.)

On this evening I didn’t go out there to shoot pictures. I took my mother in law out there to show her where the pond was at. I had my camera with me, but I really didn’t think the sunset would be that great. In a way I was right. The only clouds that turned color were these ones, and though they’re pretty, I’ve seen much better.

I didn’t care for this image at first. I think I was disappointed in it because the sunset wasn’t all that great. I began to appreciated this image more after it had set in my files for awhile. Once I got over the initial disappointment I was able to see the beauty of the image itself.

I think what makes this picture work is how the clouds frame the mountains and how they form a natural vignette on the frozen pond.  The colors reflecting on the pond and on the snowy mountains also add to the scene. I would say that this is now one of my favorite sunset photos from the Eastern Sierra.

Prints of this image can be purchased at 25% off the regular price
through the end of December 2009.
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