Ken Cave Photography » Travel

Final 2 Days

admin — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:22:37 +0000

We took the last two days to get home. It was a 12 hour ride just to get to the Northwestern portion of the UP on day one so we thought we would spend the last two days of our trip meandering our way home. We left Munising fairly early since we rose for the morning sunrise at 5am which did not disappoint us. After a sunrise that was as spectacular as the sunset the night before, we went back to the cabin, finished packing our gear and took off. We drove through the Hiawatha National Forest from the northern end of the UP to the southern end and found ourselves just outside of Manistique where we had breakfast, after a quick stop to photograph the Manistique Harbor Light. From Manistique it was a beautiful ride along the northern coastline of the Lake Michigan, a stark contrast to much of Lake Superior’s jagged cliffs. Just outside of St. Ignace we stopped for a roadside view of the Mackinac Bridge. The last time we were in Michigan we spent time in both St. Ignace and Mackinaw City, so we drove straight through and started our last leg of our trip – several planned stops along Lake Michigan’s western shoreline. The first stop was Harbor Springs, a quaint harbor town with a marina, many galleries and boutiques. We walked through the town and ended up having lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Marina. Leaving Harbor Springs was really hard, I think we could have taken residence there. Our travels continued through Petrosky to Charlevoix. From Charlevoix we headed further south past Traverse City and finally ended up in Frankfort for dinner. After dinner we headed out without hotel reservations and ended up finding a vacancy at a roadside motel in Onekama. It made us think what it must of been like traveling in the Old Americana days before advent of chain hotels. We spent our final day weaving through the lakeside harbor towns of Manistee, Ludington, Pentwater, Silver Lake Sand Dunes, Montaque and Whitehall and finally Grand Haven before high tailing it back home. Our last day was a fairly overcast; not good for photography day but I managed to squeeze off a few shots along the way. Our next adventure to the UP will probably be Sault Ste. Marie, but hopefully we will get back to some of those harbor towns along Lake Michigan before then. If you ever find yourself traveling to Michigan, we will be happy to give you are two cents worth.

Day 5- Munising Sunrise

Day 5-Manistique Harbor Light

Day 5- Mackinac Bridge view for Rout 2 Upper Peninsula (Infrared)

Day 5- Harbor Springs

Day 5 Harbor Springs

Day 5 Harbor Springs-where we ate lunch

Day 5- Harbor Springs

Day 5 Harbor Springs-There were flowers everywhere. Here are just a few of them.

Day 6 Ludington Lighthouse

Day 6 Pentwater

Day 4 in Munising

admin — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:05:32 +0000

We got up at a reasonable hour and just started with some images out the back of the cabin. We spent most of the afternoon on a tour of 3 shipwrecks in Lake Superior which was fogged in all day from Munising to Grand Isle. There have been over 6,000 documented shipwrecks and thousands of lives lost in the great lakes. The day ended with a spectacular sunset-the one we waited for:

Our cabin Sat right on Lake Covey. The clouds showed up just in time to lend some interest to the sky and reflection in the water and then they were gone again.

This is a shot the Grand Isle East Harbor Lighthouse that is no longer in use. As mentioned the fog remained on the lake all day. Grand Isle can only be reached by ferry. It is about the size of Manhattan but has no road (only bike paths and trails) and his home to approximately 20 summer residents.

We finally got the sunset we were looking for.

Day 3 On to Munising

admin — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:15:24 +0000

Slept in on day 3 after two rather disappointing sunrises and a quite simply just being tired. We left Houghton just after breakfast. First stop was L’anse a small town just southeast of Houghton. From there, it was about an hour to Marquette and almost lunchtime already-so we headed downtown. Finally civilization! We looked in some of the shops, ate lunch and did a little more shopping (it was raining anyway). In one of the shops we were directed to the waterfront area and we were not disappointed. We ended up at Shiras Park and Presque Isle Park. It was still a little hazy, overcast and drizzling, but the sun did try to come out a few times. Finally on to Munising arriving around 7pm. We found our cabin in the woods about 10 minutes south of Munising. Back to Munising for dinner. Here are some of the shots from Marquette.

Marquette Harbor Lighthouse

Shiras Park

Presque Isle Park

Ore Dock- Ships pull up to these structures and cargo is loaded into the frieght cars above

Presque Isle Harbor Breakwater Lighthouse

Copper Harbor-Day 2

admin — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:09:25 +0000

Day 2 we woke up at 5am to catch the sunrise but was sorely disappointed. So when you get up at 5am what do you do-you go back to sleep for a couple of hours especially since you were up to almost midnight from sunset pictures the night before. After a nap we spent the rest of day touring the Keneenaw Peninsula. Strolled around and had lunch in the historic town of Camulet. After lunch it was up to Copper Harbor, the most northern portion of the peninsula. The peninsula is full of winding scenic roads of woods and coastline. Great place for motorcycling as there were a lot of them too. Perfect weather in the mid 70′s. Brockway Mountain Drive, a 9.5 mile drive has some spectacular views of Lake Superior and Copper Harbor. You also need to go to the top of the mountain to get cell phone service. We had dinner at the Mariner North restaurant in Copper Harbor. After dinner we found an access to the Lake Superior, just off North Shore Drive that was lined with rock formations and jagged cliffs. We then headed back to Houghton for dinner and another disappointing sunset.

View of Copper Harbor from Brockway Mountain Drive

Copper Harbor

North Shore Drive, Copper Harbor

Upper Peninsula-Day 1

admin — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:55:09 +0000

After having such a great time in the Traverse City area and Mackinaw City a couple of years ago, we decided to go to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. As we planned the trip, we were a little shocked on how far it was to get to lake superior. So day 1 of our trip took us up through Chicago, Milwaukee, Green Bay and then two lane roads through Wisconsin and Michigan to our final destination Houghton, Michigan located on the Keweenaw Peninsula, the most northwestern portion of the UP. It took almost 12 hours including a couple of stops for lunch and large downpour. Apparently, Indiana is not the only place for rain this year. Pulled into our hotel around 6pm (it is still eastern time throughout the UP). After asking the hotel attendant for places to get a good sunset and she sent us to McClain State Park. So we headed to Joeys for some fresh seafood (whitefish) from Lake Superior and then of to McClain State Park for pictures. Sunset at 9:56pm so it was light until 10:30 at night. You can definitely get a round of gold in after work.

Nikon D700 Nikkor 24-70/f2.8; 70-200/f2.8

Air Show Spectacular

admin — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 11:44:14 +0000

The Western High School Band Booster Club put on their Third Annual Winds and Wheels Air and Car Show fundraiser at the Kokomo Airport. Alan Girton, President of the Booster Club, did the MC honors and kept everyone informed of what was happening as well as entertained. Hanger 2 was full of food from 8am to 2pm to support the Western Band. Admission to the show was free. If you did not make it, you missed quite a show. There were parachute-rs, stunt planes, jets in formation, an army helicopter, bi-wing planes and just a little be of everything. It was hot and hazy, but no rain of which we have had plenty for the last several months-the rain would come later that night-again.

GROUND ZERO-NYC

admin — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 21:02:04 +0000

A few pictures of Ground Zero also taken during our recent trip to NYC last December. You can google the web to see what the finished project is going to look like. Unfortunately with all the construction, it was impossible to get very close. These pictures were taken from a building crosswalk.

Nikon D700 , Nikon D80 (with infrared filter), Nikkor 16-35/f4

NYC Skyline

admin — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:29:20 +0000

Angela and I had a chance to spend a couple of days in New York in December last year. We did all the touristy things. We stayed near Rockefeller Square, saw the Christmas tree, went to Ground Zero, saw all the billboards in Times Square, stood outside in 20 degree weather to see the Today Show and did I say shopping-yes lots of shopping. One of our final stops was the empire state building. Here two shots looking south from the 86th floor observation deck. And finally one picture on the subway.

LEXINGTON Kentucky

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:45:06 +0000

We sojourned to Knoxville Tennessee to see my Grandson for his 1st birthday by way of Lexington Kentucky. I would highly recommend Lexington for a place to visit. Lexington will be the host of the World Equestrian games this September, the first time this competition has been held in the United States-they are very excited and well should be. We had a chance to ride around horse farms, visit Keeneland Racetrack and visit the downtown area. Then it was off to Knoxville. I think another trip to Knoxville is in order around the Fall colors, plus I don’t see my son and family enough.

No Frame on the print as I still need to swith my frame actions from Photoshop CS4 to CS5

Infrared Nikon D80/ Nikkor 24-70

Tiny Landscapes-Franklin Conservatory-Columbus OH

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:24:47 +0000

Day two of our Southeastern Ohio expedition had us all creating tiny landscapes or in photographic terms (macro photography). Now I don’t do a lot of this type of photography; in fact I do not use macro lenses, but rely on extension tubes. These tubes go between the the lens and the camera which creates distance between the lens and the camera sensor effectively magnifying the subject size you are photographing.

Outside of flower petals, insects and such there is a whole world of macro photography. It even gets to the extreme with microscopic photography using high powered microscopes to photograph the smallest of objects. Wonderful abstracts can be created to the point that you would not even know what is actually being photographed.

If you think you would like to learn more about macro photography you can visit the following link: Tiny Landscapes