Wallpaper Thursday

Last year I took the opportunity to visit the Tahquamenon Falls once per month. That was kind of cool because it gave me a good snapshot of the changing of the seasons. So for this week's wallpaper I present:

As I said last week, if there are requests, please post them in the comments section.

A Field

And the last picture I leave you with is a field somewhere. I think it is a soybean field but I am not sure.
I kind of like the mixture of colors in this picture. There are some fall colors in the trees in the background and the field has a nice yellow look to it.

The River of Time - Bay City

So I found out about an event in Bay City called "The River of Time". I might have heard about it before but I never checked it out. Basically, they have groups of re-enactors of periods throughout Bay City's history come down. Some of them are set up in encampments that resemble the encampments of the period they are re-enacting. Apparently, Bay City has been doing this since 1990.
One of the things the were doing was a mock naval battle. Sadly, I was too late for the battle but I was able to see the Appledore as she headed back down the river. I kind of wish I could have seen her under sail.

This is a paddlewheel that was part of the battle. I think in this shot they were fighting with a shore battery.

The Appledore passing City Hall. I kind of wish there were a cleaner background for this shot.

Another shot of the paddlewheel.

The two ships together, I was hoping that this would have been a simulated boarding.

One of the Civil War re-enactors. This one is dressed as a Chaplain.

A sailor from the Civil War. I don't normally like to take pictures of people but if I do, I prefer them to be natural and not posed.

Some cutlasses of the Civil War.

A group of musicians.

One of the people dressed up like a fur trader.

Another one of the fur traders.

A person dressed up like a Native American. I didn't get the chance to ask what tribe he is supposed to be though.

Another Native American. If I were going to guess, I would say Huron but I'm probably wrong.

Another of the Civil War Re-enactors.

This person is doing Abraham Lincoln. Apparently, he did a re-creation of the Gettysburg Address.

One of his aides de camp. This person was a Lieutenant.

And a colonel.

Another group of musicians.

A Civil War Marine.

Some Zouaves. This uniform was based on a French Army uniform. These units practiced different techniques than regular Army units.

The Proper Night Pictures

These are the proper pictures of the Mackinac Bridge at night. I really like night photography because you can get some pretty neat effects. For these pictures I had the camera on manual mode because I don't like the normal settings on the camera.
I took this picture using the settings that the camera recommended. It is not too bad of a picture but the towers are a little dark.

So for this shot, I lengthened the exposure time. One of the secrets to decent night shots is to either have a tripod or something sturdy to set your camera on. If you don't have a tripod, it is best if you set the timer on your camera so that you are not touching it during the picture. Any movement will show up in the picture.

I don't think I've taken night pictures of this angle. I kind of like the look though.

These are just different settings on the camera. Each one had a different exposure time.

And I pulled back the zoom to get the full length of the Bridge.

I hope you guys liked this.

The Mackinac Bridge At Night

So it was dark by the time we got back to the Bridge. I wanted some night shots of the Bridge because I like it when it is lit up. So here is my shot.....
I'm just kidding. Every time I take night pictures of the Bridge, I see people using their flashes. I am guessing that they have their camera on auto mode and don't really know better. One of the purposes of this blog is education. Most of the time, it is about the history of this state but occasionally I will take the opportunity to educate people on photography.

A camera is really a simple device. In it's base form, there is a medium that is sensitive to light. In old cameras this is film. In modern cameras, it is a CCD array. There is a way a for light to reach this medium and something to keep the light from reaching this medium.

A flash is way of getting more light on a subject so that you can photograph it. However, a flash can only send light so far because it is the reflection of this flash that you are capturing with the camera. If your flash isn't intense enough, there isn't enough light to expose the film. Which is what happened in the above picture.

So when you use your flash for something like the Bridge or a Building, you're not really doing anything useful. Fortunately, some of the lights were bright enough for an exposure. I suppose if you had a floodlight, there might be enough light.

Your Right to Keep and Arm Bears

Everytime we go to Tahquamenon we end up stopping at this gas station. They are reasonably well stocked and not terribly expensive. It is a good place to get snacking fare or something to drink.

In front of the gas station is this statue. I kind of like it.

A Lake Near Tahquamenon Falls

I meant to post this earlier because this is between the Falls and Paradise. I don't know how many times I have passed this lake without stopping. Yesterday, I decided to stop.
I kind of like how the trees are reflected in the water. I just wish the weeds weren't in the front though.

Another shot from a different angle. I think I would like this one a little more if there weren't the ripples in the water.

Whitefish Point State Harbor

Normally, we end up passing this place. Last night, I decided to stop here. It is a couple of miles south of Whitefish Point. I think it is just used for lauching of boats and some docking but not much else.
This was an old boat that was parked there.

An old metal barn. I might try this shot in black and white because I think it would look neat.

I kind of liked this shot.

The above shot from a different angle.

I really like how the reflection appeared in the water for this shot.

The St. Clair Again

One of the nice things about boatwatching on the Detroit River is that I get a chance to see most if not all of the ships that ply the Great Lakes. So when I am elsewhere, I will likely see a ship that I have seen on the Detroit River. Yesterday was no exception.
There is a little bit of a beach behind the lighthouse. The ships going from the Soo to Duluth (or other ports on Lake Superior) will pass by Whitefish Point. Normally my timing isn't right to see a ship pass by. That wasn't the case yesterday.

The ship I saw yesterday was the St. Clair and she has appeared on this blog before. Unfortunately, that time I was only able to get a shot of the bow. For this shot, I wanted some of the foreground but I don't think I had the right lens or enough light.

The ship out on the horizon.

For this shot, I laid down on the beach and tried to get the waves as they came up. Again, the foreground is too blurry but I still like the shot.

Another shot out on the horizon. The sun was setting, so I got the pinks in the sky. I had the film speed bumped up a bit though....

A closeup of the pilothouse. Well as close as I could get.

Another shot where I got the foreground. I think I like this one a little better.

I kind of wish we would have gotten here about 20 minutes sooner because as I looked to the west, I saw a ship heading off. There was also another ship coming in but my light was rapidly waning.

Whitefish Point Lighthouse

So I made it to Whitefish Point. I really like it up there because it is not a bad looking lighthouse (certainly a unique looking one). It's normally fairly peaceful as there aren't too many people there. They are doing work on the tower, so there was scaffolding around it.
I was able to get pictures of the tower itself though. I'm kind of glad they are doing work on this lighthouse because it needed it.

I tried to get a shot with the foghorn in the front but I didn't quite have the right lens.

I kind of like this shot with the sky opening up a little bit behind the tower. I would say the tower is a little too dark but I like the silhouette.

I tried to get a shot with the light showing. It looks like there is a new light in here.And my last shot of the tower.