March 2022 Photography
There are so many adventures that I tried to squeeze in before Winter ended this year, I may have went a little overboard.
Here are the photography adventures of March 2022!
#hike8 & #hike9 in Grand Haven and Holland
The following weekend I didn’t get out to shoot as I took that Saturday to prep for upcoming art shows, then Sunday it was so windy that I just did not want to go outside. So, to make up for it, I went on two hikes in the following weekend.
At the very end of February, we went out to Grand Haven to do some shooting at the Connor Bayou. Despite the warm weather, there was still a decent amount of snow in the woods, and the golden hour light on the Grand River made for some great landscapes to cap off a peaceful day..
Then the next day after church, I promptly drove around the corner to Van Raalte Farm Park to make up for not going out the weekend before. I’ve walked and shot around this park many times before, but this time I hiked the entire outer loop of the trails, covering area I’ve never done before, and although a lot of the snow has melted and the ice that was beneath it was a bit precarious, the weather was just perfect for a walk in the woods.
A Weekend Adventure to the Thumb (#hike10 sort of)
The following weekend, I took a day off of work to go on an extended photo excursion to the east side of the state. This was my first time ever shooting on the east side of the state, and I was a little nervous as the winter weather wasn’t cooperative for the trip. While there was some areas I went to that still had some good winter scenery, I made the best of the trip by stopping at the various lighthouses and landmarks around the thumb.
On the first day, we crossed the state to get to the Bay City area. Along the way stopping at a few parks and natures preserves along the way. We even got to see one of the treehouses that was featured/built on the Animal Planet show: Treehouse Masters.
On Day 2, we crossed the thumb from Bay City over to Port Huron to check out the Blue Water Bridge connecting Michigan to Canada. From there, we took the lakeshore route up and around the tip of the thumb to hit the lighthouses along Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay.
On the last day of the trip, we shot down from Bay City to Flint to check out Stepping Stone Falls. From there, we crossed back across the state towards home, hitting up a few more parks and inland lakes along the way.
#hike11 back at Home
After the busy adventure of the previous weekend, I did a quick hike the following weekend just a short drive from home. Heading over to the Huyser Farm Trail Loop for some new paths, I had a fresh snow from that Sunday morning to give me some gorgeous forest scenes. After that, not wanting to call it a day quite yet, I buzzed around the corner from there to Laketown Beach to get some shots there as well.
Testing new gear at Meijer Garden
Patience pays off, after saving up my Amazon points for several months, I I finally had enough points to get a legit Macro Photography lens. I had read two Macro Photography books earlier in the year, and as much as I wanted to get right into things as I was reading those books, I behaved myself and waited. Once I got it, what better way to test it out than on the butterflies at Meijer Garden. I like to try something new every year at the exhibit, and this was a great way to mix it up a bit.
#hike12 at Fairview Nature Park
I had planned to do hike 12 at the same time as the butterflies, but it rained all day, and but the time I got through the line and worked with the butterflies, the gardens were closing. So the next day I visited Fairview Park to get my hike in. I’ve been here before, so I wasn’t anticipating taking many shots, so I focused more on the wildlife that was coming out on the official first day of Spring.
A UP Winter Adventure (#hike13 sort of)
Okay, so I’m a weirdo that decided he wasn’t done with Winter yet, I so took at trip to the Upper Peninsula to get some last minute winter scenes before it all melted.
Day 1 of the trip didn’t go quite as planned. The plan was drive the whole day, get to the hotel, then be ready to go all out on photography on days 2 and 3. Then the Mackinaw Bridge closed down due to falling ice. So I had to find a hotel in the area and pray that the bridge was reopened the next day so I could get across to the UP. While I was there, I took to the time to do some shooting by the bridge, getting different shots than I’ve done previous, both with it being Winter in the straights, and also with zero traffic on the bridge.
Day 2 was fortunate, the bridge was open again! We got our butts in gear before the sun rose and got ourselves over the bridge. Before trekking into the wilderness, we stayed by the bridge to catch some sunrise shots. After we were done with the sunrise, we were on our way to the next stop when we heard that the bridge closed again the next day too. Good thing we got going early to get to the side we wanted.
From there, we went to Whitefish Point to get some lighthouse shots and Lake Superior shots.
After that, we visited Tahquamenon Falls and had a lot of fun shooting the falls for the first time in winter.
From there, we made the rest of the drive towards the hotel in Munising. Once we got there, we did a little shooting in the area.
After that, we went to the main attraction I wanted to hit on this trip: The Eben Ice Caves. Unfortunately, the weather was a weird mixture where it was a gorgeous day, but the snow pack was melting in a way where everything was just wet and slippery, and I couldn’t find a way to get close enough to the caves to get some decent shots. I could see it partially obscured from a distance, but getting any closer I feared slipping, sliding down the hills, and breaking a bone somewhere. So I got what I could, and someday I think I will try it again earlier in the year to hopefully have better footing and conditions on the trail.
Day 3: Here’s where the trip slowed down a bit. The snow came in, and it came in hard. We went south to capture that last highlight I wanted to hit on this trip: The Kitch-iti-Kipi spring. After that, we stopped at a few places here and there, but ultimately cut the day short as the weather progressively worsened throughout the day.
Day 4 was the return journey. The day started out in white out conditions for driving, and after the hiccup of the bridge closure at the beginning of the trip, we wanted to make sure we didn’t get stuck on the wrong side going home, so we just headed straight for the bridge, slowly but surely. After beating the high wind warnings, we made one last stop by the bridge for a few more shots, then headed straight home after a long weekend away.
Bible Verse Prints of the Month
