South Haven Snowfall

A relatively early snowfall in southwest Michigan arrived before Thanksgiving, reducing visibility considerably.  Not a blizzard, yet heavy snowfall at times, but the accumulation wasn't as much as expected.



Still, the snow managed to convert the town of South Haven into a winter postcard. The weather seemed to keep most shoppers away from the downtown area, as the streets seemed empty.

Winds were absent, making the walk through the snowy downtown streets enjoyable, and a future look into the fast approaching Christmas shopping season.



Surprisingly, not too many visitors bothered to walk on the beach or near the lighthouse.  In the past two years,  bad weather attracted spectators to the lighthouses of the Great Lakes, but for now, people remained in their warm homes.

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Translucent Waters

Photographing distant subjects in high winds isn't always easy. Even when mounted on a tripod, the camera can move slightly, and in this case, sand and water are constantly blowing on the camera. Add shooting into the sun to the equation, and things get interesting.

Compensating for all of the above, and attempting to keep the shutter fast to capture splashes, I played around a bit to silhouette the lighthouse against the yellow sky. No splashes here, but doing so brings out the rich color of the sunset instead of washing it out and turning it white.  At this moment, the low angled sun only reached the tips of the breaking waves. The foamy water was highlighted by the sun, and in some places, the light came through the water, giving the waves a translucent quality.

Several times while I stood on the beach, waves reached my position, in two cases, I was standing in water almost to my knees, and up to the tops of my boots. Not the first time I've gotten wet here.  A few years ago I was splashed by a breaking wave, soaked from head to toe in 20 degree Fahrenheit temperatures. I did manage to keep the camera dry.

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Washing Over

Waves pushed by 40 plus mile per hour winds wash over the pier at South Haven, Michigan, on a stormy November afternoon.

Relatively common to the area, high waves collide with the lighthouse and pier creating dramatic splashes that can exceed 70 feet in height. While not a record storm, this storm brought winds and waves for a few days in a row, pushing the waters of Lake Michigan into the Black River, where water overflowed the banks and poured onto the nearby picnic area.



Visitors needed to stay back, not only to keep dry, but also to keep from being knocked over and possibly washed into the cold, churning lake.

Always fickle, some days, Lake Michigan is as still as a pond, yet storms often turn the body of water into a dangerous but beautiful monster.

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Lighthouses at Sunset

Following several days of wind and waves, a great deal of which were overcast, the sun peeked out through a break in the clouds near the horizon, just before sunset. The low angle of the sun washed the lake and lighthouses with an intense amber light - it was, in fact, the golden hour.  Generally perfect for photography, but in this case, I was not taking advantage of the light in the normal sense. When I turned my back to the sun, the shore was brilliantly lighted by the golden hour. The colors were in perfect contrast to the dark sky, but I focused on the lighthouse and the lake, photographing into the golden light.

This has many disadvantages including lens flare, silhouetting the subject, and overexposure of the sky -all of which I dealt with as I metered the scene. However, the main advantage of this direction was the illumination of the sprays of water cast up by the waves. The water captured the golden light as it was cast into the air, even the small sprays on top of the breaking waves were golden.

The low, amber light may have softened the scene, but it intensified the power of the waves.

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November Wind Storm at South Haven

Lake Michigan's fury continued up the shore for yet another day. At South Haven, Michigan, the piers and lighthouse were battered by high winds sending 20 foot waves over seawalls, and up the Black River. Washing over the seawall, the waves crashed onto the picnic area, flooding the sidewalk with several inches of water, creating a temporary stream of runoff cutting its way toward the beach.
With weather such as this, one would expect an empty beach, yet kite surfers rode the waves, and people lined the parking area to witness the pounding waves. Only a few weeks away from freezing temperatures, when these splashes turn the lighthouses into 40 foot ice sculptures.

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Illuminated Splash

Following an afternoon of roof repair due to the strong winds in the region, I made it to Lake Michigan just before sunset. Winds in the area were gusting to 30 miles per hour, creating waves on Lake Michigan exceeding 20 feet.  These waves pound the pier and lighthouses along the shore, creating dazzling splashes that often exceed the height of the 35 foot tall outer lighthouse.

In winter, these splashes freeze to the surfaces of the pier and lighthouse, covering them in thick ice.

On this afternoon, the sun appeared a few minutes before sunset, casting an intense, low angled light onto the lighthouses. This light illuminated the splash producing a beautiful pink-orange spray of water. The waves often reached as far up the beach as the dunes, it was a good thing I decided to wear boots, because more than once, knee-high waves reached the area I was standing.

Here's a quick sequence of images I captured from the shore. It gives an idea of the waves and splashes that pound the pier.



While these waves and splashes were not the largest I've captured over the years, this was one of the most interesting as far as color.

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From the Bluff

The Kankakee River over time has cut through and eroded solid rock on its journey from St. Joseph, County, Indiana to the Illinois River. There are some areas where this rock is still prominent along the bank of the river. Outcroppings and small canyons are common in the Kankakee River State Park, and they're interesting to explore.

This bluff is a popular place to relax and view the waters rushing by; it's beautiful in winter too, when ice is carried by the river, and fog rolls onto the bank.


Stairs and railings lead up to an observation deck, but this rocky area just a few yards away is more natural and provides a better view.

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Colorful Kankakee River

The low waters for the Kankakee River reveal moss covered rocks and colorful leaves on the river bed. The afternoon sun highlights the changing leaves still on the trees along the bank, and the rock outcroppings carved by the river over thousands of years. Kankakee River State Park near Bourbonnais, Illinois offers many interesting views of the Kankakee River and the canyons of Rock Creek, a small stream that flows into the river within the park. While rock climbing is not allowed, it's sure tempting, but there are many areas designated to view the formations from almost all vantage points. Interesting in all seasons, the park is open year-round.

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Fall on the Prairie

Late afternoon at Goose Lake State Prairie, and the signs of Autumn are everywhere. What was once lush green tallgrass, sprinkled with wildflowers, is now brown and mangled, ready for the changes and cleansing of Winter.

At 2,500 acres, Goose Lake Prairie is the largest prairie remnant in Illinois. A great portion of "The Prairie State" once looked much like this.  Early settlers drained the 1,000 acre Goose Lake in this spot, and removed the clay for pottery and brick making. Coal mining took place in the 1800's, and much of the surface land was scoured.

Today, the prairie appears much as it did before the settlers - minus the lake - with a mound of soil from mining times that offers the highest vantage point in the park.

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St. John Cantius Parish

Completed in 1898, the "Polish Cathedral" style church is a remarkable example of sacred Baroque Architecture. A thriving parish today, the church draws thousands to worship each week. Masses are celebrated in both the Ordinary Form, as well as the Extraordinary Form, in English and Latin.



St. John Cantius offers the daily Holy Sacrifice of Mass in the Extraordinary Form, often called the Tridentine Latin Mass.



On this All Souls Day, the parish offered a Pontifical Latin High Mass including the Mozart Requiem, sung by the choir with orchestral accompaniment. No microphones were used for the Latin Prayers, some said at a whisper, adding a mystery to the service, but really, this is the time for the congregation to meditate on the former parts of the Mass.





The 2 hour and 15 minute Mass was filled with tradition not regularly seen in Catholic Churches today, such as kneeling at the Communion Rail for the Eucharist, and the use of patens by the altar servers to catch any particles of the Host that may drop.



St. John Cantius is located in Chicago, just one mile west of the famous Chicago Water Tower, and the Magnificent Mile.

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