Lake Superior’s shoreline in Michigan is highly diverse. From the cliffs of Pictured Rocks, to flat cobblestone covered beaches around Whitefish point, to this area I explored some years back near Marquette.
Wetmore Landing is home to some of the oldest rock formations in the state. The granite formations here are estimated to be more than 2.3 billion (yes – with a “B”) years old. In fact, this shoreline granite is among the oldest parts of the North American continent, forming a continental shield compacted and weathered over those billions of years. Once unburied by glacial retreat, the waves and ice of Lake Superior add the finishing touches. While Wetmore landing is mostly flat sand, it was these rock structures that immediately caught my attention.
Oldest rocks in Michigan
Many people are familiar with the vast sandstone that forms along Lake Superior’s shore, this section of granite is lesser-known. Perhaps because it is only found along this relatively small 12 mile stretch around Marquette and Sugarloaf Mountain.
My only regret was not spending more time here. It was cold, a snowstorm occurred overnight, and I was pretty sick with the flu. Climbing up and around the slick granite was not high on my priority list at the time no matter how ancient or photogenic these giant granite boulders are. I recall a warm hotel bed waiting for me back in Marquette with some pizza and NyQuil delivery was sounding much better. Still, looking at my exposure times, I managed to spend about 90 minutes exploring. What some people do for pictures eh?
Lake Superior in Black & White
I’ve been revisiting some of my work created here and took a sharp left turn from how I previously developed them in color and decided to move them towards black and white. Perhaps it fits with the age of the rock formations here.
Top Image ID # SL9971-2 / Prints available for purchase from my Black and White Photography gallery.
I’ll also agree with your choice of black and white images. This is a good series. I like that you’re one of those photographers who love what they do will spend time researching and getting to know their subject or area of interest. And, they will spend time with their subject even in inclement weather or when they are under the weather. Well done, my friend! I’m one of those photogs who loves clouds and you have three wonderful images of ominous clouds.
Also, congratulations on having one of your images posted with National Geographics!
Or…. just stubborn that I drove all that way and didn’t want to leave empty handed just because I caught the flu. 🙂 Thanks much Monte!
Stubborn works!
Beautifully rugged scenery up that way, and I agree with the consensus that black & white works well for those images. When I looked at the map, I initially thought that Wetmore Landing looked close to Eagle Harbor, where we have friends that live there part time. But it’s not as close as it looks – 140 miles and 3 hours!
I have a collection of Lenswork presets for Lightroom that I’ve played with but haven’t used on any final images. They seem a little more toned than what you have but I often think the Lenswork photos are a little over done. You might be able to find them on the website. I didn’t look but they are probably on there somewhere.
I do have a couple presets in LR that were supposedly representing the warm tone, but I never thought they were that close. I prefer to do all of my B&W development in Silver Efex 2 anyway, so I basically just eyeballed something close that had a little bit of warmth to the tones. Not too much as I generally don’t like the sepia end of the spectrum.
Good choice going with black and white, Mark. Even without seeing the color versions, I think this best compliments the subject matter. My mind can’t even wrap around existing for billions of years and after 2020 I don’t even want to think about it. 🙂 Have a great weekend!
I know right, that’s quite a while ago eh? My mind wanders what it must have been like to be a witness to that time. As far as color vs. B&W, I flip flop a lot between the two. Even when I thought I had settled on one originally. I admire those that strictly shoot in B&W though – I often wondered if I could do that for just a year. Thanks for the comments.
Those black and white images are fantastic and I really, really love how you’ve toned them!
Thanks Howard. I am a big fan of the Lenswork look on toning – that slightly warm black and white. I don’t know if I have the exact formula down of what they use, but I try to get it close.