False Spring
This early in March? We Michiganders know better.
Shot on the Canon EOS M and EF-M 22mm f/2.
winter
No Pressure
Do you want to know the benefits of being a hobbyist photographer?
No pressure.
No client to please. No money to make. No expectations. No deadlines.
If I’m working on a big portrait project, the only deadlines or expectations are the ones I put on myself. And I do, but no one else knows that. It’s just me.
I can go out on a foggy winter morning, after dropping off the kids at school but before heading to work, and explore. Just me and my own desire to make something, see something, photograph something.
There’s no pressure. And it means everything.
Five Non-Photo Winter Projects
I originally shared a list of projects photographers could tackle during the initial COVID lockdowns five years ago.
In my latest video, I take a colder take on that list, though the advice is the same: take winter time and do some photography maintenance.
The Coldest Day
It’s cold out there.
Parts of the U.S. are facing an arctic blast – one of those goofy named weather phenomena. In the past few winters, we haven’t had much winter action in Michigan. So on this occasion, I laced up my snow boots and walked around the neighborhood to see what five degrees felt like.
The bright sun and crisp air were nice for a brief minute. But then the wind would pick up and I felt like my face was stinging.
Not much moves on mornings like this.
Shot on the Canon 5D classic and EF 40mm f/2.8.
She’s A Beaut
You know what time of year it is.
Time to drive out to the country, pick the best of the best, shake it off, wrap it up, and drive it home to decorate.
It’s Christmas tree time. Red and green time. Fresh air and pine sap scent time.
We finally got some snow time.
Shot on the Canon M6 and EF-M 22mm f/2.
Another World
Also on our California itinerary: Joshua Tree National Park, a long car ride on our last day so I could introduce the family to the desert.
“It’s like another planet,” my wife said, driving through the limestone boulders, washed clean by ancient floods.
Those were the exact thoughts I had 17 years ago, driving through New Mexico, Arizona, and eastern California. Another world.
Trees Most Lovely
Gwinn’s Christmas Tree Farm in Horton, Michigan.
Have a great holiday season, everyone.
Life In a Northern Town
We had a record ice storm hit Michigan last week. It swept across the U.S., but on Wednesday night, it struck the Great Lakes with particular fury.
That night, we listened anxiously while tree branches cracked and fell, breaking power lines all around us. We had an oak tree snap in half and block our street because of the weight of the ice. I braved falling branches the next morning to go around the yard and document everything sheathed in a clear coat. By the afternoon, all the ice had melted. The storm swept in and swept out quickly.
For two nights, we huddled in the basement as a family, wrapped in blankets while the temperature inside the house dipped to 47° F. We only got the power back on Saturday, and what a relief. But driving around town and seeing all the wreckage, we were lucky.
That’s life in a northern town.
More Real Winter
More shots from around the yard after the big snow fall earlier in February.
Now it’s March. Bring on the false AND real spring, please.
West Michigan in Winter
It’s an annual cold-weather tradition: heading to Lake Michigan in the dead of winter to see our nearest Great Lake frozen.
This year, we were near Saugatuck, Michigan, and visited the lake on a sunny but very chilly Sunday afternoon. Visiting Lake Michigan this time of year is like landing on a different planet: cold, windy, the beaches barely recognizable. Beyond the snow hills, the lake was heaving – big waves of ice and snow, full of terrible power.
Before that, we indulged in some hygge at one of my favorite cideries, Virtue Cider in Fennville, Michigan.
I discovered Virtue Cider randomly: one time I grabbed a random six-pack of cider at a local party store. After taking it home and loving it, I’ve been a fan ever since.
The cidery was hosting a Wassail party, but because of the freezing cold, they canceled it. That didn’t stop us. We still wanted a warm lunch and good cider, so we went anyway.
Despite the weather, it’s important to get out and enjoy the cold when you can.
Real Winter
It’s nice to have real winter weather – freezing cold, snowy, and a bit sunny – instead of our as-of-late damp and cloudy winters.
Working from home, I appreciate looking out on lovely January day.
Michigan On Ice
After Jaime and I took a trip to South Haven a few winters ago, we swore we had to come back. To see that heaved ice hanging onto the shoreline, to see that frost-encrusted lighthouse again. Maybe grab another beloved shot of strangers trudging through the cold.
The lakeshore is like another planet: a mix of sand and ice, and off in the distance an unfrozen lake. The ice in the pier heaved, like the lake was breathing – a living, swelling mass of ice.
I brought along my seldom-used Tamron 24-135mm zoom lens to give it some exercise. I’m usually a prime guy, but with scenery like this, I wanted to be prepared for whatever came up.
We dragged the kids along with the grandparents with us, too. The children were constantly on a precipice: one slip, and we’d lose them to what felt like the void.
On the ride home, we could’ve all fallen asleep. We were tuckered out. All that cold and fresh air did us good.
Deep Blue Soul
Winter here in Michigan, one at sunrise and one at sunset.
Stay warm out there, folks. .
Winter of Discontent
It’s cliche, that old Richard III phrase. But here we are, almost one year later, still dealing with a pandemic and lockdown orders.
I challenged myself to make something out of all this midwinter cold and isolation. It’s finally getting cold, and the snow is sticking around, so I made a point to capture it as I see it: outside the windows of the house that I barely leave.
It’s hard to be creative, stuck inside. We’ve taken a few walks outside. We even went hiking at a local nature center. But by now, that just feels like therapy. The pandemic makes the lower section of Maslow’s hierarchy that much more important.
I did finish my 2020 family photo album. I didn’t take many photos last year, but the ones that I did take really matter. Someday, we’ll look back and remember.
Another creative project: posting iPhone photos to Twitter, just to get them out there. Instagram has been a waste for several years now. Twitter is the only social media network I feel I still enjoy (especially now post-Trump) – why not share some old iPhone images I had captured, edited, and saved for Instagram?
It’s all slow, tough going. But I keep going, as much as I can.
Woke Up In January
Sunday was raking leaves on a fine autumn day. Monday was shoveling 6+ inches of snow out of the driveway.
Hashtag Midwest Living.
Bio Dome II
The light can fool you in winter. Sure, it looks sunny and bright, but step outside this artificial atmosphere and you’ll pay the price.
The midwest, in all its January glory.
We’ll watch from inside the terrariums, taking our time in both the arid and humid man-made climates.
Bio Dome
How better to beat the mid winter blues in Michigan than to travel to a jungle and a desert?
That’s what we did when the big snow storm came: a day for sledding in the driveway, and a day for heading out to Hidden Lake Gardens and enjoying the bio domes.
Hidden Lake is truly a hidden gem – out in the middle of nowhere, winding paths and lake trails, plants and trees of all kinds. The bio domes offer a desert environment, a lush tropical environment, and a simple greenhouse. Walk inside, and you’re somewhere else.
It didn’t feel like January in here.
Make And Take
Leave it to me to schedule our Family Art Studio session for the snow storm weekend.
But so it went. We drove to Ann Arbor, braving the highway traffic and slick conditions, to spend the day making art at my work.
This was the boy’s first trip to an art museum, and he had a lot of questions. Were the statues real? Why can’t you touch the art? That bust of George Washington – where’s the rest of his body? Why was that girl so hairy?
We took inspiration from Japanese graphic design and made our own poster out of cut-out shapes of colored paper. It was us and six other families – half of what was scheduled to show up.
“The difference between your art on the fridge and these drawings is that there’s a frame around them, and they’re hanging in a museum,” I said.
I hope he took the day to heart.
Snow Day
There’s nothing like a snow storm to get the family out of the cabin fever funk.
It’s also a great excuse to get the ol’ point and shoot camera out, dust off the lens, and take some photos of the outside activities. Despite the broken battery door, my Canon PowerShot SD750 still works great, and shoots fine.
This thing and me go way back. We’ve been on many adventures, from road trips through New England to hiking in Zion, and all of life before I purchased my first DSLR.
This weekend, when the snow started to accumulate, I broke out the SD750 while me and the boy went sledding, and then to capture all the fun in the yard when we got home. After all, if it gets wet, no big loss.
A side benefit: the photo files loaded lickety split into Lightroom.
Getting Some Fresh Air
Back on New Year’s Day, I came down with something terrible: fever, chills, aches, and an all-encompassing drowsiness. It was so bad I had to cancel holidays plans with my family.
By day three, I was going stir-crazy, so the boy and I headed outside during an unseasonably warm January day to get some fresh air. It had to help, even a little, to take a walk around the neighborhood.
We walked our usual path down by the lake, and through the neighborhood trails – to the giant pile of concrete rubble that sits on the farm property just outside the residential zone.
The walk didn’t end up helping all that much, long-term, but to my feverish head and aching lungs, breathing that foggy Midwestern air provided a much-needed break.