The South Haven Lighthouse

My next stop was the South Haven Lighthouse as that is only about 30 or so miles away from the St. Joseph lighthouse.  Again, I was hoping that it would be covered ice and the weather was still holding out.

Sadly, it wasn't but I think the waves were kicking up harder than at St. Joseph.  As you can see behind the lighthouse.

This time I brought my longer lens, so I could get a closer shot of the lighthouse without putting myself in danger.

This pier wasn't quite as bad as the one in St. Joseph.  But I wasn't going to venture out too far as there wasn't a fence but it wasn't quite as ice covered.

You can see the waves crashing around the lighthouse.

About as close as I was about to get.

Just a shot to get more of the catwalk in the picture.  Plus this one was taken with my smaller lens.

One more shot.

A shot from a different angle using my monster lens.  I kind of like the waves crashing over the pier.

I was thinking of heading up to Grand Haven but I wasn't sure how much longer the weather would hold for me.  So I head back to Ypsilanti.

Angry Lake Michigan

Normally when I go over to the other side of the state, the weather is nice and warm.  So my impression of Lake Michigan is a nice peaceful lake.

Not today.  I only recall seeing waves like this in California.  Wow.

The St. Joseph Lighthouse

My next stop was the lighthouse itself.  It still wasn't snowing but the wind was blowing off the lake and as a result it was pretty cold.  The waves were kicking up pretty hard though so I was happy.

 As I said in my last post, I was hoping to get the ice covered lighthouse.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.  But as I was looking at this picture, I noticed that the range light was covered in ice.

 Normally, I wont crop out part of a picture to make another one, but I liked the looks of this one.  As you can see the range light is pretty much covered in ice.

 Getting a little closer to the pier.  As I said, it was pretty cold out there.

 Before I started doing both photography and this blog, if you would have told me that I would be walking down an ice covered pier with huge waves kicking up near it, I would have said you were crazy.  So carefully I walked down the pier because I didn't want to be a part of those waves.  Fortunately, the waves don't get quite as far as this part of the pier.

 You can see the icicle covered fence in front of the lighthouse.

 This also gives you a good idea of both how windy and cold it gets as the icicles are out at an angle.

 Next, if you told me that I would be crouching down on said pier in order to get a picture like this, I would have said you were crazy.  I'm not sure I like this picture but I wasn't going to not post it.

 So then I got a little closer to the end of the fenced portion.

 Mainly so that I could get a shot of the lighthouse without a fence in front of it.  As you can see, the waves are crashing over the pier.  So now I understand why they have the catwalk.

 Another angle of the lighthouse.

 Backing away from the lighthosue.

 Taking a couple of shots from the beach.

 Another angle.

 Trying to get the lighthouses in the picture a little better.

 Another shot of the front range light.

One last shot of the lighthouse.  I was tempted to go back to my car to get my bigger zoom lens but the bitter cold got the better of me.

A Pair of Tugs

Probably one of the most photographed lighthouses in the state is the St. Joseph Lighthouse.  It gets really windy on the west coast of the state.  As a result, the St. Joseph lighthouse will get covered in ice and pictures of it when that happen look pretty neat.  I've always wanted to get a picture of it in that condition but generally the weather doesn't cooperate.

Today was different.  There was a threat of snow but the temperatures seemed high enough that if it did snow, it wouldn't stick.  So I decided to head over to the West Coast.

 People who have followed this blog long enough know that I am distracted by things that float.  Today was no different.  As  I was heading towards the lighthouse, I looked over to the side and saw this tugboat.  So of course I had to stop and take pictures.  I don't have many details about this tug unfortunately.

 Next to her was a tug called the Defiance.  Unfortunately, I don't have details about either of them.

 It looks like she is all laid up for the winter and her windows boarded up.

 Another angle.

Looking at the Alice E from the front.

Southfield, Michigan

I was up at the Troy office today and on the way home, I decided to stop by Southfield as I've been meaning to do that for a while.  I'm not a huge fan of modern buildings but Southfield as some pretty neat ones.

Southfield is a suburb that is about 30 miles or so northwest of Detroit.  It was founded in the early 1800's by settlers from nearby Royal Oak and Birmingham.  It was first organized as Ossewa Township in 1830 and 17 days later the name was changed to Southfield.  It's name was because it was in the Southfields of Bloomfield Township.  It is now a center of commerce with several large firms operating headquarters there.

 This building probably represents why I don't like modern architecture.  It is a soul-less building of glass, steel and concrete.  Not much to discern it from the other buildings.

 Now this building represents reasons why you can like Modern Architecture.  It is part of the Southfield Town Center which was built from 1975 to 1989.  It was originally called the Prudential Town Center.  This building is known as the 2000 Town Center Building (pretty original huh?) and is 28 stories tall.  It houses the Macedonia consulate.  Construction was finished in 1986.

 A shot of the two of the buildings that are relatively next to each other.   Most of these buildings are in the same relative area (except I couldn't get a picture of all of them).

 The 3000 Town Center Building.  This was the first building constructed and was built in 1975.  It is 32 stories tall and is the second tallest building in Michigan outside of Detroit.  I kind of like the looks of this one.

 Another angle of the 2000 building.

 Housing the Fifth Third Bank is the 1000 Town Center Building.   Construction on this one was completed in 1989 and it stands at 28 stories.  The smaller building in front of it is a Westin Hotel and is the 1500 Town Center Building.

 Three of the buildings in the same shot.

 Looking towards the 1000 building.

 Looking up at the 1000 building.

 Another angle of the 2000 building.

 Looking up at the 3000 building.  I love the crossed pattern going up the side. 

 And another angle of that building.

 This is the 4000 Town Center Building and is 20 stories tall.  It was completed in 1979.

 Another angle of the 2000 building.  I wish the glass were a little more reflective though because that would make a neat effect.

 I kind of liked the effect here.

 And another side of the 3000 building.

And looking up at the 4000 building again.

I think I'm gonna have to spend a little more time here and get some other angles and stuff.  If more modern buildings looked like these, I wouldn't have as much of a problem with modern buildings.

EMU Basketball Vs. NIU - Post Game

These are some of the shots from the postgame.

 The team celebrating their hard won victory.  It seemed like they were going to lose this game and they managed to pull through and get the victory.  It was pretty cool to watch.

 The post game handshake.

The Eagles would win the game 48-45.  This is pretty good considering there were down by 12 at one point.  I'm not sure how the team will do in the post season but I'm hoping this will bode well for next season.  It seems like Coach Murphy has the team on the right track.