Category: The Sweetwater Seas

Sunrise Time-Lapse from Lighthouse Beach

November 23, 2020
Canonchanging lightcloudsExpectationsGreat Lakes ProjectLake MichiganRichard Mack PhotographySunriseThe Sweetwater Seastime-lapse

Sometimes you realize you just need to go and do something. The other morning I awoke at 5am and realized it was time to get down to the beach and try out the Timelapse+ intervalometer on a night to day time-lapse and see if it worked. I’ve had this piece of equipment for awhile and had trouble getting it to connect witht my Canon 5D Mark IV. I tested it several times and it has been working so time to get out and try a real time-lapse! Besides it is November in Chicago and almost 60 degrees at 5am – clearly one of the last mornings to try it while still not freezing cold out there!

After getting the camera and equipment together I was on the beach just before 6am, slightly later than I wanted. I started the time-lapse and stood back and just watched the waves, clouds and sun while still below the horizon light up the sky. I also used the app The Photographers Ephemeris which helps you determine the angles of the sun, moon and stars for a particular location and date. I use it to double check where the sun will pop out on the horizon.

While the time-lapse is continuing for 56 minutes I walked a bit of the beach, used another camera to shoot some of the waves and different shots I saw, but mostly watched the sunrise and the serenity of the clouds and sun as it danced higher into the sky. Not a bad morning.

Hope you enjoy this 40 second time-lapse!

Cheers, Richard Mack

Grosse Point Lighthouse Documentary

October 21, 2020
Aerial PhotographyCanonDJI MavicdroneeveningLake MichiganLighthouse BeachLighthousesnew projectsNew WorkRichard Mack PhotographyThe Sweetwater Seastravel

While we are still filming and editing the documentary The Sweetwater Seas – North America’s Great Lakes, we were asked by the Lighthouse Park District in Evanston to produce a short introductory film about the Grosse Point Lighthouse.

Because we live in Evanston and grew up on Lighthouse Beach, we were delighted to take on this project and help people know this amazing National Landmark. In these times of Covid-19, the Grosse Point Lighthouse has been closed to visitors, as is the case with all lighthouses on the Great Lakes. This film will inform people about the history of the lighthouse, show you portions of its interior and aerial views that not even the visitors get to enjoy.

Don Terras, the Director of Lighthouse Park District, gives us a great history of why it was built at Grosse Point, what the lighthouse keepers did and more.

Because we are just one mile from the landmark, Grosse Point Lighthouse and its adjacent beach has been one of the locations we have used extensively for filming, from shooting the weather in every season, sunsets, moonrises and more, to testing equipment.

We hope you enjoy this short film about the Grosse Point Lighthouse.

Cheers,

Richard

Tahquamenon Falls State Park

September 10, 2020
Aerial PhotographyCanonDJI MavicdroneGreat Lakes ProjectLake SuperiorLandscapesnature photographyRichard Mack PhotographyThe Sweetwater Seaswaterfalls

Tahquamenon Falls State Park

While I have travelled far and wide to film the Great Lakes for our documentary The Sweetwater Seas: North America’s Great Lakes, I had not been to Tahquamenon Falls State Park in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I’ve seen lot of great shots of the falls along with drone footage. When Mary and I decided to head somewhere in the Lance Camper RV we looked for a place neither of us had been and landed on Tahquamenon Falls!

The park is the second largest state park in Michigan, and most of the 50,000 square acres are wilderness and not accessible. Which is great for the moose which have been reintroduced to the area, but not necessarily for seeing them! The hiking trails are very well kept, and the lower falls is accessible to wheelchairs. There is a 5-mile trail between the lower falls and upper falls. The lower falls are much smaller yet there are several as the water makes its way downstream to Lake Superior. We hiked the trail between the falls one afternoon for about a mile before rain and darkness turned us around. The trail down low by the river was muddy but once you moved upriver and on the bluffs it was dry and beautiful.

This short film gives you a good idea of the park, the falls and the wetland areas and lakes inside the park. As most photographers know, when travelling with others you may not linger in an area as long as you would have if travelling alone. I also only carried my iPhone for shots on some of the trails. Otherwise it was my Canon 5D Mark IV and a tripod. Now the one thing I failed to do when I went to the lower falls the first time I left the heavy neutral density filters in my big bag instead of putting them into the small bag I carry on the trail. A mistake I made so long exposures we not as long as I wanted. And while filming the Moon over the lower falls I shot the video in 4K with the 16mm lens to get the widest shot, but should have thought about shooting in HD as it widens the shot even more although not as good as in 4K. Next time I realize the shot needs the width of the 16mm as seen in stills I will shoot it both ways.

You learn a few things every time you go out and shoot no matter how long you’ve been doing it! Enjoy the video and still images!  

Peace, Richard

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Winter Storm on Lake Michigan

January 15, 2020
CanonenvironmentGreat Lakes ProjectLake MichiganRichard Mack PhotographyRichard Mack's BlogThe Sweetwater Seas

Winter Storm and Big Waves

On Saturday January 11, 2020, the Midwest experienced a large winter storm system across the area which created unusually large waves of 15-25 feet in the southwestern portion of Lake Michigan. With the Great Lakes within inches of their highest levels in history it brought destruction to several areas, homes and businesses along the lakeshore. In the Chicago area, and in particular Evanston where I live, all seven beaches disappeared under these huge waves. Homes along the Chicago Northshore lost their beach fronts as well. Personally, I have never seen waves this high on Lake Michigan, at least on the western side. In this video, shot at Gilson Park in Wilmette, the dunes usually have 20-30 feet of beach between the shoreline and the dunes. The roots of the grasses were the only thing left in many places. The trees which used to stand a few feet from the edge of the dunes were now right at the edge and in danger of falling into the lake.

The sound of the waves was deafening, although the wind overtook our microphone no matter what we did to dampen its effect. The ground also had a vibration from the pounding of the waves.

At another beach just south of Gilson, Lighthouse Beach in Evanston, usually has 50-100 feet of sand which had been obliterated by the waves all the way up to the dunes at Lighthouse Beach. By the next day the storms had cleared and Lake Michigan had calmed down, returning the beach to its size before the storm.

Lighthouse Beach on Saturday January 11th and then Sunday January 12th.

The size of the beaches everywhere in the Great Lakes have shrunk to their smallest sizes in the years since the lowest levels were recorded in 2013, just seven years ago. The lake levels do rise and fall over generations, but not this fast. The storms have also become bigger and more powerful in the last ten years – due to global warming and climate change. We will be covering the threats to the Great Lakes and the Midwest in our documentary.

Enjoy,

Richard Mack & John Manos

#thesweetwaterseas #GreatLakes #LakeMichigan #Storms #waves #weather #Illinois #nature #documentary