Sunday, December 19, 2010

Twelve Months of the Tahquamenon Falls

My last project is twelve months of the Tahquamenon Falls. I decided to do this one since I was going to be up at the Bridge anyways and this is only a couple more hours away from there. Generally when you see pictures of the Falls, they are in the summer months because the Upper Penninsula can get quite a bit of snow during the winter. So I figured it would be worthwhile to have some pictures that not many people get. This probably was the most challenging of the projects because it is a significant distance.

For my winter shots, I either had to get a hotel up in Mackinaw City or get up early so that I would have enough light. But in the end it was worth it.

This is precisely the type of shot I was looking for. Frozen river in front of the Falls, snow on the trees. Beautiful in January.

There was quite a large buildup of ice in February. I could even see ice underneath the Falls. I think if it were colder, I might have gotten a shot of the Falls frozen completely.

March was kind of warm, so the snow was pretty much melted. I saw patches of snow in places where the sun doesn't shine much. The Falls just after snow melt are pretty impressive as there is a large amount of water flowing through them.

Since March was pretty warm, April brought alot of green.

May was still pretty green.

June was pretty rainy, so there was still quite a large amount of water flowing.

July was pretty rainy too. So the foilage was lush and the water flowing quite a bit.

It was still nice in August.

It was still green when I went up in September. I saw that the colors were starting to change in other places. It would be soon here.

I went up early in October so that I could get the colors in the background. It did not disappoint.

By the time we arrived in November, the trees were completely barren but it hadn't started to snow yet.

And December brought the return of the snow. We had quite a bit of snow at this point, so there was quite a bit on the ground.

The Tahquamenon Falls project was probably the most challenging of the four projects because it was the furthest away. The weather didn't always cooperate and for my December shot, I almost though I wasn't going to get it because it was snowing in points and I thought I would turn back. All in all, I found this to be the most rewarding. I could see the change in the seasons and the beauty of the surrounding land.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nicely done, koz. What causes the 'rust' color of the water in many of the shots? I figure refraction, but don't know if that's accurate.

Mikoyan said...

The brown in the shots is caused by tannins leaches from the Cedar swamps that drain into the river. So it is a natural effect.