JBtheExplorer
Native Gardener
I just got back from my final camping trip of the year. I spent three nights camping in a forest along the shore of Lake Michigan. I've camped there many times before, including last year. I biked 42 miles, hiked four or five miles, and took over 600 photos.
I've been looking forward to this trip all summer. It was planned months ago and haven't been camping since Spring. Not so long ago, I decided that one of the focuses of this trip would be photography. I too often rush my photos, and I knew this would be the perfect time to work on it. I decided to experiment a little. I took time to focus more on the scenes I was capturing and put more effort into getting the best possible representation of the location I was at. I wanted to come away from this trip with some of the best photos I've ever taken. I feel that I achieved what I set out for. I came away from this trip with a fantastic collection of photos, and I wanted to share some of them with you all.
One of my favorite things to do while in the forest is searching for salamanders. This area has at least three species of salamanders and with a little bit of luck and knowledge, they aren't too difficult to find. This is the most commonly seen salamander in the area: Blue-spotted Salamander.
Another common sight are Red-backed Salamanders. These are harder to capture. Unlike the Blue-spotted salamanders, they don't like to sit still. They try to escape as quick as possible.
Here's a very tiny Red-bellied Salamander. This one was only about an inch long.
Towards the end of the first day, I took a four mile bike ride and found this Garter Snake sitting on the trail. It musked me pretty good as it was trying to get away. Eventually it curled up under this leaf and allowed me to get a photo.
Of course, how could I stay in the forest without photographing the forest? It was tough to decide which images worked and which didn't, but I went through and picked my favorites.
This is the entrance road to the campground. It winds through the forest between the main campground and Lake Michigan.
This peak of sunshine through the trees was taken on the second full day after about 24 hours of cloudy skies and rain. As the clouds broke, revealing the sun, I immediately had to capture it. Unfortunately, it didn't last more than an hour before becoming cloud for the rest of the day.
The next photo was actually taken during last year's trip. It ended up being my favorite photo of the trip.
I wanted to go back and find the same spot to photograph it again just for fun. I knew the area of the forest I was at when I took it, but didn't know the exact spot. I didn't have a copy of the photo with me and had to go purely by memory of the photo. I've looked at the photo a lot over the past year, so I thought I had a chance at finding it. Surprisingly, I was able to find it, and ended up taking it almost identically to last year. It was a different time of day so the lighting was different, but it's interesting to see the same spot a year apart. Immediately I see a small rotted tree that was previously standing is now laying on the ground. See if you can make it out.
One of my favorite things to do while camping there is waking up early and catching the sunrise over Lake Michigan. I lucked out this year and even though most of the trip was cloudy, I was able to see two sunrises.
I'll start with the second one. The water was fairly calm and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a nice way to start off the final hours of the trip.
The first morning's sunrise, however, was a gift from nature. It was a windy morning. The lake was wavy and clouds of all colors, shapes, and sizes were scattered around the sky. Every trip has one standout moment. It's always been that way for me. There is always one moment that becomes the signature moment of the trip. That moment for me usually coincides with one of my best photos of the trip. That continues to be true. The sunrise on the first morning will be unforgettable. What a dramatic scene Mother Nature provided me.
Whenever I'm having a rough day I'll think about that morning. It wasn't necessarily "peaceful". The temperatures were cold. The cold wind was blowing in off the lake. The lake was roaring loudly.
I was by myself, though. No sight of other humans. If that isn't peaceful, I don't know what is.
I've been looking forward to this trip all summer. It was planned months ago and haven't been camping since Spring. Not so long ago, I decided that one of the focuses of this trip would be photography. I too often rush my photos, and I knew this would be the perfect time to work on it. I decided to experiment a little. I took time to focus more on the scenes I was capturing and put more effort into getting the best possible representation of the location I was at. I wanted to come away from this trip with some of the best photos I've ever taken. I feel that I achieved what I set out for. I came away from this trip with a fantastic collection of photos, and I wanted to share some of them with you all.
One of my favorite things to do while in the forest is searching for salamanders. This area has at least three species of salamanders and with a little bit of luck and knowledge, they aren't too difficult to find. This is the most commonly seen salamander in the area: Blue-spotted Salamander.
Another common sight are Red-backed Salamanders. These are harder to capture. Unlike the Blue-spotted salamanders, they don't like to sit still. They try to escape as quick as possible.
Here's a very tiny Red-bellied Salamander. This one was only about an inch long.
Towards the end of the first day, I took a four mile bike ride and found this Garter Snake sitting on the trail. It musked me pretty good as it was trying to get away. Eventually it curled up under this leaf and allowed me to get a photo.
Of course, how could I stay in the forest without photographing the forest? It was tough to decide which images worked and which didn't, but I went through and picked my favorites.
This is the entrance road to the campground. It winds through the forest between the main campground and Lake Michigan.
This peak of sunshine through the trees was taken on the second full day after about 24 hours of cloudy skies and rain. As the clouds broke, revealing the sun, I immediately had to capture it. Unfortunately, it didn't last more than an hour before becoming cloud for the rest of the day.
The next photo was actually taken during last year's trip. It ended up being my favorite photo of the trip.
I wanted to go back and find the same spot to photograph it again just for fun. I knew the area of the forest I was at when I took it, but didn't know the exact spot. I didn't have a copy of the photo with me and had to go purely by memory of the photo. I've looked at the photo a lot over the past year, so I thought I had a chance at finding it. Surprisingly, I was able to find it, and ended up taking it almost identically to last year. It was a different time of day so the lighting was different, but it's interesting to see the same spot a year apart. Immediately I see a small rotted tree that was previously standing is now laying on the ground. See if you can make it out.
One of my favorite things to do while camping there is waking up early and catching the sunrise over Lake Michigan. I lucked out this year and even though most of the trip was cloudy, I was able to see two sunrises.
I'll start with the second one. The water was fairly calm and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a nice way to start off the final hours of the trip.
The first morning's sunrise, however, was a gift from nature. It was a windy morning. The lake was wavy and clouds of all colors, shapes, and sizes were scattered around the sky. Every trip has one standout moment. It's always been that way for me. There is always one moment that becomes the signature moment of the trip. That moment for me usually coincides with one of my best photos of the trip. That continues to be true. The sunrise on the first morning will be unforgettable. What a dramatic scene Mother Nature provided me.
Whenever I'm having a rough day I'll think about that morning. It wasn't necessarily "peaceful". The temperatures were cold. The cold wind was blowing in off the lake. The lake was roaring loudly.
I was by myself, though. No sight of other humans. If that isn't peaceful, I don't know what is.
