Been a warm winter...

So far this winter it has been a very warm season, with the exception of a few days near -10F when the steam rose from the water. As I write this today it is nearly 60F which might tie or break the warmest day on record. While we all like the warmth and a season without shovelling snow, it is not necessarily the best for the Great Lakes. Without ice coverage the lakes will evaporate faster. We may see lower lake levels in the coming seasons which can be trouble for harbors for both recreational and industrial maritime activities. Yet, it might make our beaches bigger and help with the erosion problems we have faced in these lakes.

This quick video was shot on January 15, 2024 when it was -8 degrees. Personally I love going out in that kind of weather to get these kinds of shots. You dress for it and when shooting don’t really think much about it. This might be the coldest day of this winter with only about 6 weeks to go before spring. While for those few days the ice along the edge of the lake here in the Chicago area built up slightly it was clearly smaller than usual. This was the ice at the edge, as things were just starting to freeze.

Hope you enjoy.

Cheers, The Sweetwaters Seas

The Power of Nature

Big waves on Lake Michigan August 26, 2023.

On August 26th the winds from the Northeast were 30-40 mph making waves registered at the Wilmette and Chicago buoy's at 7.2 feet. This came after one of the warmest set of days in Chicago with a temp over 100 degrees and a feel like temp of 120. This with the winds of the 30 degree lower cool front made for the high winds from the northeast. Usually the lake is calm or with waves of 1-2 feet only. I ran down to get B-roll for The Sweetwater Seas documentary, yes we are still working on it!

We have shot big waves after a storm before but nothing this with waves this size. This small video of the waves show the power of Lake Michigan at its best. Enjoy, The Sweetwater Seas Team

January Sunrise Lake Michigan

Went down to the lake for sunrise thinking at 2 degrees we might have a lot of misty smoke over the water. Not to be. So I changed plans and did some b-roll for our documentary, yes still working on it, The Sweetwater Seas. Sometimes what you go for isn't there in nature and you must change your perspective and reap the rewards of being in the right place at the right time because of your planning and serendipity! Enjoy!

Piping Plovers have Record Breeding Year!

One of the first segments we ever did for THE SWEETWATER SEAS was an interview with wildlife biologists who were working to save the Great Lakes piping plover. Vince Cavalieri, who we interviewed, was running the program at Sleeping Bear Dunes. Now the Piping Plover are not only more abundant but had a record year for breeding at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

They have also become more popular as they have started breeding in other places on the Great Lakes , maybe the most widely known in Chicago on Montrose Beach where music festivals were moved and beach areas cordoned off for the pair who where breeding on the beach. They’ve returned for a second year this year. Other lakes also now have some pairs breeding in Lake Superior, Erie and Ontario. Quit the change from having only a few pairs of breeding Piping Plover a few years ago when they started working to bring them back before extinction. Great to see the progress all these groups have made in the recovery of the Piping Plover since we filmed Vince a few years back!

Wait a Day...

If you know the Great Lakes, and many say any place, the weather can change on a moment’s notice. On February 13-14 this year here in Chicago we had a snowstorm that dropped 20” from the sky. Along with that we had winds coming out of the north and right down Lake Michigan which blew the ice into shore. I went down to the shoreline of Lake Michigan on the 17th to see the conditions of the lake, expecting ice up against the shoreline, yet it had already moved out about 2 miles offshore. Still we had the ice built up high along the shore and the open water behind it so I made both some still and video shots of the lake. The next day I went back to the same spots and because the winds had shifted yet again the ice had moved back into the shoreline right up to the pack ice. An interesting perspective on the changes which come within 24 hours along the Great Lakes. And below are a few of the still images made for the book on the Great Lakes.

Enjoy,

Richard

Grosse Point Lighthouse Documentary

While we are still filming and editing the documentary The Sweetwater Seas – North America’s Great Lakes, we were asked by the Lighthouse Park District in Evanston to produce a short introductory film about the Grosse Point Lighthouse.

Because we live in Evanston and grew up on Lighthouse Beach, we were delighted to take on this project and help people know this amazing National Landmark. In these times of Covid-19, the Grosse Point Lighthouse has been closed to visitors, as is the case with all lighthouses on the Great Lakes. This film will inform people about the history of the lighthouse, show you portions of its interior and aerial views that not even the visitors get to enjoy.

Don Terras, the Director of Lighthouse Park District, gives us a great history of why it was built at Grosse Point, what the lighthouse keepers did and more.

Because we are just one mile from the landmark, Grosse Point Lighthouse and its adjacent beach has been one of the locations we have used extensively for filming, from shooting the weather in every season, sunsets, moonrises and more, to testing equipment.

We hope you enjoy this short film about the Grosse Point Lighthouse.

Cheers,

Richard & John

In Honor of Earth Day's 50th Anniversary

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day here is short film about the Great Lakes. The challenges they faced 50 years ago and where they are today. Thank you to all who work on the issues facing the lakes!

We also wanted to honor those who have helped us while filming this documentary, these are the folks working on the issues facing the Great Lakes. We look forward to being able to get back out there and continuing the story of the Great Lakes!

And yes you can help us further this documentary by donating on our website below! 

#thesweetwaterseas #GreatLakes #freshwater #EarthDay #EarthDay50 #nature #documentary #environment  

Grosse Point Lightstation

This short video is from a shoot we did early morning last week to fill in some footage for a section of The Sweetwater Seas - North America’s Great Lakes documentary. In this section we will talk about traveling around the Great Lakes, and as this footage captures, some of the lighthouses along the Great Lakes.

It was a cold morning after an unusual snowstorm on Halloween. The cold - around 25 degrees - and the early morning light made views of the top of the lighthouse very interesting with the frost on the glass. We also shot from the ground of the lighthouse and the waves. The sand was frozen already so our footsteps barely registered in the sand. The waves we beautiful in the morning light and we shot some slow motion clips of the waves as they rolled in.

Enjoy,

Richard Mack

Chicago Skyline Time-lapse

I did my first real test of the of the “holy grail” of time-lapse where you go from daylight to night-time (or the reverse). I used the Timelapse+ VIEW intervalometer and software plugin for Lightroom CC to handle the exposure changes. I did this from the Montrose Harbor area looking down to Chicago, an iconic view of this beautiful city. We started the exposures at 6:40pm and finished 2 hours and 44 minutes later at 9:24pm. This gave us just under a minute of video from the 1,408 images shot. For those interested it was shot with the Canon Mark 5d IV with the 24-105 lens set at F/11. The ISO started at 100 and ended at ISO 8000. The shutter speed started at 1/80 of a second and ended with an exposure of 4.0 seconds. A total of 14.5 stops! Timelapse+ VIEW was setup to change the shutter speed first and then the ISO. Timelapse+ VIEW Intervalometer will automate night to day time-lapse using a light sensor and advanced algorithms. This system worked really well and once you take it into Lightroom in post processing the plugin finds the keyframes which you can use to do the initial processing in Lightroom Development window to make any exposure / color corrections you require. The software then makes these corrections for the entire selection in subtle increments so you have a finished piece with smooth transitions for a beautiful time-lapse.

Now one thing I know I will try next time is starting with at least a 1 second exposure to make the water smoother throughout the time-lapse. I would also go longer into the nighttime view to give a little more room in editing to be able to use a longer nighttime scene.

This Timelapse+ VIEW intervalometer and what we will be able to do with it will be a great addition to The Sweetwater Seas – North America’s Great Lakes documentary! It will be in the equipment bags for every shoot from now on! Can’t wait to get outside along  the Great Lakes and do some day to night with the Milky Way winding its way across the screen, and maybe even back to daylight.

Enjoy,

Richard

#thesweetwaterseas #GreatLakes #timelapse #timelapse+ #Chicago #LakeMichigan #Canon #CanonMark5DIV #Chicagophotography #artofchi #earthpix #timelapseplus #travel #landscape #cityscape #astrophotography #illinois #illinoistourism #way2ill 

South Haven Lighthouse Aerials

Aerial views of the South Haven Lighthouse in South Haven, Michigan. Done for the documentary The Sweetwater Seas - North America's Great Lakes currently in production.

Over this past Labor Day weekend, I had the pleasure of joining a group of friends and family who have met each year at the wonderful Michi-Mona-Mac cabins in South Haven, Michigan. It was a wonderful time with this group of folks over the Labor Day weekend. I had the chance to use the DJI Mavic Pro drone to do some aerial video for our documentary The Sweetwater Seas – North America’s Great Lakes. On this morning it was slightly overcast at sunrise and with little wind.

Using manual settings, I shot at 1/50 of a second, as the frame rate in the end will be 24 frames a second. It is best to try and shoot with double the frame rate to give you a smooth image. Using ISO 100 and adjusting the aperture until I the exposure was accurate. I always use a polarizing filter as well – especially when shooting over water – but in all honesty whether shooting stills or 4K video it is always on my lenses.

I knew several of the shots I wanted to get before starting out, and while I did not do a storyboard before flight, I had mapped it out in my head what I wanted in the finished film. Setting up each shot while in flight before beginning the movement, so I could edit them together later. There are always happy surprises like the folks walking the pier or only one boat coming down the river into the open lake instead of many at a time. I used Adobe Premier Pro to edit the film instead of the DJI software. We shall see if we use any of this is the final film and I am guessing some shots will be used!

I hope you enjoy this small piece!

Cheers,

Richard Mack

Here is information on the lighthouse:

Tower Information
Tower Height: 35.00'
Focal Plane: 37'
Active Aid to Navigation: Yes
Latitude: 42.40100 N
Longitude: -86.28800 W

The South Haven South Pierhead Light is a lighthouse in Michigan, at the entrance to the Black River on Lake Michigan. The station was lit in 1872, and is still operational. The tower is a shortened version of the Muskegon South Pierhead Light, and replaced an 1872 wooden tower. The catwalk is original and still links the tower to shore: it is one of only four that survive in the State of Michigan. The keeper's house is on shore, 2-​1⁄2 stories tall, wood with a hipped-roof. It was also built in 1872, and is located at 91 Michigan Avenue onshore, was transferred to the city for preservation in 2000. The Michigan Maritime Museum has renovated the keeper's house as the Marialyce Canonie Great Lakes Research Library.