Stormy Sea Cave
Pictured Rocks is the closest national park to Chicago. Located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore includes a 33,550-acre shoreline zone and a 37,850-acre inland buffer zone.
And if you’re from Chicago, it’s well worth the six-and-a-half-hour drive to Munising, Michigan to enjoy the park. Over one million people visit every year.
Previous Friday Photo blogs described how intense wave action shaped the lakeshore’s sandstone layers. While some layers easily resisted the water, others slowly weakened, crumbled, and gave way. The result is a shoreline spotted with sea caves, stacks, chimney promontories, and arches.
The Shot
I was photographing Fall color in the park during October of 2020. Sea cave photography was on my wish list.
Luckily, I managed to take three trips to the sea caves on Grand Island in Greater Munising Bay. Each trip entailed a half hour boat ride to an offshore location, transferring to a small inflatable raft to get close to the cave, and finally, wading ashore in the mouth of a cave.
Wearing chest high waders was a necessity (not a luxury), given Lake Superior’s cold water and chilly Fall temperatures.
On two of the outings, we were blessed with calm water and beautiful, photogenic skies.
But one morning, bad weather almost canceled the trip. A storm was moving through the area with significant waves. In addition, lightning was striking about five miles away. The captain noticed that the worst of the storm had passed, so we continued to the sea cave.
“Bad Weather Makes for Good Photographs”
The saying is often true, and this morning was no exception.
The pre-dawn light made the sky appear blue and cold. The interior of the cave was softly lit with warm sandstone hues.
All three openings were visible through my ultra-wide-angle lens creating an interesting foreground. In the background, I could see flashes of lightning and the distant rumble of thunder. I took quite a few photographs hoping to capture a lightning bolt.
By sunrise, the interesting light had subsided. I lingered, simply enjoying the experience. Afterwards, while reviewing my photos, I noticed that one of my frames had captured a very distant lightning bolt. You’ll need to view the image on a large monitor to notice the bolt in the center opening.
Thanks for looking,
Chuck Derus