Early Snow in Northern Michigan

11-17-2018

A week ago there was wet snow that coated everything in Michigan’s Eastern Upper Peninsula (EUP).  The morning after there were calm winds and dark clouds.  The snow plastered trees and clouds provided two contrasting compositional elements for interesting images. The water of Lake Huron and nearby creeks, coves, and rivers could not freeze at this early date so there also was the possibility of reflection as a third element.

Electricity was out for the entire day so my wife and I were happy to spend our time discovering different scenes, with the added benefit of constantly changing lighting conditions and cloud patterns.

Scotties Creek South

The southern skies over Lake Huron formed dark clouds that persisted all day, so we visited a few creeks flowing into Lake Huron.

Lone Spruce

We found the above scene along a sand dune beach.

Upon visiting Hill Island causeway (below) the sky became very dark and the morning sun briefly lit up the western shoreline.

Light the Darkness

Scotties Creek North

The sky was lighter to the north so I did not include it in the image above.

Quarry Creek 1

Below I took a very different perspective of the same scene as above, in a different light.

Quarry Creek 2

McKay Creek First Snow

Prentis Creek First Snow

Prentis Bay Shoreline

Lone Dune Birch

The beaches of Northern lake Huron provided some interesting scenes (below).

Lake Huron Shoreline First Snow

I took the above image from a height and perspective to use the underwater rocks as a foreground compositional element and timed the gentle wave action to catch the water pattern around the rock at the waterline.

Cadogan Point First Snow

The Northern Lake Huron Shoreline in the EUP has numerous natural springs which flow into the shoreline.  This is why the area has some of the cleanest water of the Great Lakes.  In each of the 4 images below I included a creek (emanating from one of the springs) as a foreground compositional element.

Lake Huron Spring 1

Lake Huron Spring 2

Lake Huron Spring 3

Lake Huron Spring 4

Charlotte River First Snow

A day later and well inland from Lake Huron the scene above grabbed my attention.

Scotties Creek Fall Snow Covered Tamaracks

A year ago and a week earlier a similar snow event occurred (above), while the tamaracks still retained their golden needles.