Notes from the Woods

seeing · environment · exploration · photography
Lake Huron splash of time

Lake Huron splash of time

Walking along this beach, it isn't uncommon to look down and find a piece of fossilized coral. During the Devonian Age (359-416 million years ago), this land mass we now call Michigan was near the Equator and teaming with marine life. It's a long time frame that seems...

read more
Great Lakes ice cover

Great Lakes ice cover

The Great Lakes are a bit below normal as far as ice cover for this time in January at only 2.9%. But similar to past years, a lot can change in just a matter of a couple weeks. The little tilted heart-shaped lake down by Detroit is Lake St. Clair, where I do a lot of...

read more
North vs. South Lake Huron

North vs. South Lake Huron

While working on a few photographs today of Lake Huron, I began to think about how different the landscape (lakescape?) and geology are between the lake's northern and southern ends. I suppose that is to be expected for a lake that is more than 200 statute miles long....

read more
Lake Superior Microburst and Waterspout

Lake Superior Microburst and Waterspout

Season changes bring some turbulent and chaotic weather in the Great Lakes. Lake Superior is known to be particularly temperamental. Recalling a day from 2015 when I was in Michigan's Upper Peninsula photographing autumn color in mid-October, the weather was looking...

read more
Beach Grass (Ammophila breviligulata)

Beach Grass (Ammophila breviligulata)

Shoreline erosion is a growing concern in the Great Lakes area, especially after having record high lake levels in the past few years. Beach Grass, also known as Marram Grass, is quite symbolic of Michigan shorelines. Anyone that has walked the beaches of the Great...

read more
Great Lakes Beach Rocks

Great Lakes Beach Rocks

This image is a variation of a beach rock photo I did nearly 10 years ago. Checking the time stamp, it was exposed about 15 minutes before the one I developed back then. It's a bit different in composition, with different varieties of rocks. I am not sure why it sat...

read more
The Many Faces of Lake Superior

The Many Faces of Lake Superior

A quote I stumbled on recently about the Great Lakes, and in particular Lake Superior struck a chord with me. I know I am not alone in thinking that calling these bodies of water "lakes" - even if prefaced by the adjective in the name, doesn't give them justice. We...

read more