Lake Superior Summer Solstice Sunrise

During my  June trip through the upper Midwest I spent several days in Minnesota. The day before the Summer Solstice I arrived at Gooseberry Falls State Park on the North Shore of Lake Superior. It was a Saturday and the park was absolutely packed with people enjoying the spectacular waterfalls. Because of harsh light and the crowds of people I did very little photography that day, instead I scouted locations along the shore for the following morning’s sunrise.  I woke the next morning at about 4:00 AM and could tell almost immediately that the dawn light and sunrise was going to be spectacular.  I hiked down to the shore to the spots I had scouted the day before and waited for the light show to begin and Summer  officially start. As you can see from the two images below I was not disappointed!

Lake Superior Summer Solstice Dawn Light

Summer Solstice Sunrise Over Lake Superior

Advertisement

Photo:Lake Superior Pastel Dawn

Continuing on with the sunrise – dawn light theme, I present an image from the UP of Michigan, made in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. Of the two sunrises I photographed there, this is my favorite.  I was drawn to the  simple  almost minimalist layered composition and of course the beautiful pastel shades of reds, orange and blues. Of several exposures, this provided the slight wave-ripple on the water that adds strength to the composition. One other composition note: I placed the horizon right in the middle to divide the image into two major layers of water and sky, each of which have subtle layers within them bases on color tones.  Enjoy:

Lake Superior Dawn, Porcupine Mtns State Park, MI ©Stephen Weaver

Art of the Prairie: A Nebraska Sand Hills Grass Photograph

One of  the main subjects I am drawn to now in my journey to photograph the beauty of the natural world is the prairie, and the amazing textures and colors of grass that make up this often unappreciated environment. True, the prairie  and plains are  relief challenged environments and they may not bring to mind the  incredible vistas of rugged alpine  terrain, but I personally have found that if you  take the time to experience the prairie and really see it you would be astounded at the beauty that is present.  One of the goals of this web journal will be to highlight  my vison of the prairie and hopefully  illustrate  that the beauty  of nature extends well beyond spectacular the red rock country of the southwest or the  unquestionable grandeur of the mountain environment. To that end I present the next image from my recent Midwest trip.

Smooth broomgrass grows thickly around a lake in Crescent Lake NWR, Nebraska ©Stephen Weaver

Photographed in the Sand Hills of Nebraska in Crescent Lake NWR, this image highlights the luxuriant growth of grass surrounding one of the many  lakes in the refuge. I was blessed with great clouds and soft light and the different layers and textures  as well as the near-far composition help to make this a satisfying image.

Welcome to my new photography blog

Hello everybody!

Welcome to my new  blog where I will provide news and musing about my travels to pursue my creative passion for landscape and nature photography.  I will offer general thoughts on photography and as I return from trips I will post selected images and offer my thoughts on why and how I made the image. I hope that this will give you an insight on how I work and approach my goal to capture the art and beauty of the natural world. Stay tuned! and don’t forget to check out my main website : www.stephen-weaver.com, where you can view over 300 of my images ranging from the alpine environments and red rock canyons of the West to the sweeping prairies of the Great Plains.