That Icy Feeling

Grand Marais Harbor, January 2008 with the Canon A85. It was about zero degrees and I nearly froze my fingers off in the minute or so it took me to get several images. This image had some contrast adjustments and sharpening done in Microsoft Picture It. My acquisition of Photoshop came later.

Living in Northern Minnesota, one of the things you can generally expect each winter, is a healthy abundance of snow and ice. Although the weather has been all over the place in past years, bringing everything from 30 below temps to mid-winter rainstorms, at some point during the season there will be some form of winter wonderland.

Early spring, 2008 along the shore of Lake Superior. An earlier shot from my new Nikon D300 with the 18-50mm lens. Contrast and sharpening again through Microsoft Picture It.

I love ice. I never get tired of watching the way it shifts and changes from day to day, the way the light catches its angles and bounces color through its layers. I'm always looking for those shots that could be in a coffee table book, or a high gloss magazine, or a calendar.

Grand Marais harbor and the Coast Guard station, January 2009. Nikon D300, 18-50mm lens with a circular polarizing filter. Photoshop adjustments include sharpening, contrast adustment and selective darkening of the sky. Once again, it was so freaking cold that the I had trouble rotating the ring on the polarizing filter and cursed when I had to pull my hands out of my gloves to make camera adjustments.