This year I was only shooting for  myself so I decided to focus in on the facial reactions and put together a graphic of all the crazy faces that erupted after a dip in the 30-some degree waters.  You get every kind of reaction from “what the hell was I thinking” to “ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” to “suh.. suh… so… col-col-collllddddddd.”  It’s what I love from this event.

Lastly, I do know this is coming about 10 weeks too late, but since Duluth is forecast to get 2-4 inches of snow Friday, I figured now would be an appropriate time as any to make this post happen.

I have no idea how in the previous three years that I’ve been up here that I never made it down to the shore or up along Skyline Parkway to photograph this amazing event.  I have no doubt I will be returning later this week for some more shots.  To get these, I had to rise at 530 a.m. and drive down to Canal Park.  I made it there way too early as I waited in the parking lot for almost an hour before any light broke through the horizon.  At about 7 a.m., the parking lots began filling with other people who had the same idea as me.  They lugged their tripods, cameras, jackets and mittens out to the shore to capture what in my mind is one of nature’s most awesome spectacles around these parts.  The temperature when I stepped out of the house this morning was a balmy 21 below zero with wind chills approaching 35 below.  Beautiful day.

The shots of the lighthouse were taken in Canal Park while the shots from above were taken along Skyline Parkway.  Next time I am going to have to remember to bring my tripod as I missed some cool shots right when the light was breaking through, but I’m both happy with my first effort and in awe of what Mother Nature shows us each and everyday.

All told we saw about two feet of snow with some freezing rain, sleet and high winds on top of that.  From about midday Thursday and continuing now, we have had precipitation of some form falling.  It’s been awesome.

One of my favorite places to go when storms bring high winds is Lake Superior.  I didn’t grow up near a very large lake so every time a storm comes into Duluth, I get fascinated by the waves and the way they crash into the rocks in Canal Park and along the lakewalk.  I think it even fascinates many native Duluthians to a degree because the parking lot on Christmas day was packed full of people coming down to check out the action.

I didn’t really set out with the purpose of showing the calm of this storm juxtaposed against the fury, but that’s the way it turned out.  I first set out Thursday morning to find some images of the storm.  I’ve always wanted to descend into one of Duluth’s many streams that sit at the bottom of what amount to deep gorges carved out of the land.  Due to work and time constraints in the past, I never had that opportunity, but now I do.  One of the amazing things about Duluth is that you can be right in the middle of 90,000 people and feel like you are in the middle of the woods.  That is how I felt when I was down at the bottom of a frozen stream.  Snowflakes were falling in what seemed like slow-motion, branches were aching from the weight of newly fallen snow and a muffled gurgle from the stream was bubbling up through cracks in the ice.  It was a stark contrast to what I would experience a day later along the shores of Lake Superior.

Imagine being out in the middle of a field with no trees, no obstructions and have 60mph winds pelt you with grains of sand and rice.  That’s what it was like being down near Lake Superior minus the sand and rice.  Thirty foot waves were crashing against the shore tossing chunks of ice and small pebbles against those who ventured too closely.  Vehicles in the parking lots with a front row view of the action would be routinely pelted with spray as the waves crashed over the rocks lining the shore.  These vehicles were probably sitting a good 60 yards from the shore, but the relentless winds kept pushing the water inland.

While I’m ready for a break from the nasty weather, I still wouldn’t mind this happening a few times a month.

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The scenes in the slideshow above are from Lester Park and it’s located in between the Lester River and Amity Creek.  There are a lot of trails and both the creek and river are the types you can walk across in the summer as they are filled with rocks and boulders and are not very deep.  It’s a great place to run and an even better place to photograph.

I was inspired by this posting on The Big Picture blog and set out to emulate it.  If you don’t have this site bookmarked, you are really missing out on some fantastic stuff.  To get the framing of my pictures after the storm to almost perfectly match the initial pictures, I photographed the finished product on screen.  I was having trouble simply putting the original files back on the card and seeing them on the back of the camera so I saw this instead…
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I eliminated about ten different scenes and a few more once I was in the park.  Some things did not change much like a colorful brick wall that I was hoping would be covered in ice, but instead looked like it did the day before the storm.  However, most of the scenes worked and I’m pretty happy with my initial effort.  If you have any comments or suggestions, please leave them in the comments section below this post.  Thanks!

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