Moving from Calgary three years ago to Kingsville, Ontario, Canada’s most southern town, I knew I was up for a challenge. One Goggle 3D scan of the region and the local topography appeared flat, straight and  essentially treeless. Gazing northward from the lake, the landscape is dominated by large agriculture developments and greenhouse complexes, so no fun there. There is not a hill or forest to be seen, until one passes London, which is about a two hours drive to the north. Consequently, my early focus was on the lake and as luck would have it, I am rewarded with these dark brooding skycapes, from what is known locally as “the lake effect“. Lake Erie is very shallow which makes the water quite warm. Toss in a lot of wind and the net effect is a lot of drama ends up in the air. 

Now my hunt began on finding suitable points of interest while at the same time the weather hopefully delivers character. Easier said than done and these requirements necessitate me to go on numerous scouting ventures. Since I do not use Photoshop and try to minimize my image post processing, I have to rely on what I visualize through the cameras lens. Years back, I spent a lot of time shooting film with my Bronica Sq A, so I carried over the Zone system to the digital world; with the main rule being to expose for the shadows and process for the highlights. Works for me and for my Pentax K1. Speaking of rules, I would like to display some of the photographs I took of the Lake Erie area and my thoughts on why I made the composition, as well as the photographic rules I followed or ignored when I made these images. 

Dantes Inferno, is a photograph of a Detroit steel plant shot from the Canadian side of the Detroit river. No photography composition rules are demonstrated here. I had to act fast to catch the unfortunate homeless person gazing in my direction and simultaneously capture the periodic flares coming from the facility. While laying on my belly. Normally, I do not like photographing anyone down on their luck, but my priority was catching the plant at a time when it appeared dark and menacing and she just happened to be there. A general rule of thumb I employ is try to avoid shooting photographs from the ubiquitous standing position. 

 

Next up, is an image of a local harbour breakwater and after a wait, some locals arrived just to make the image a little more interesting. I took the photograph because I liked the curved line leading to the fisherman and also to capture the mottled texture of the breakwater. Exposing for the shadows, I metered off the breakwater surface. I apologize for stating the obvious, but suffice to say the images presented here lose some (a lot) resolution at this scale when compared to a print from my Epson P600 on 13 X 19 inch pro grade paper. 

 

When the fog rolls in, that is when I get the excited the most. If you go to my website oharaphoto.ca, I think you will see the Black & White images have more black and grey, than white.  For some unknown reason, I like my images in general to be dark and moody. In the photograph below I disregarded the rules of thirds and focused on catching the boats reflection. I am not sure having a person on one of the docks would have enhanced or detracted from the feeling I was trying to present; I am lonely.

Just restin’. Cedar Creek Marina. ISO 100 f/8 @ 1/15 sec

The following two photographs, I combined together the discussion, since they both represent the typical commercial maritime traffic of the Lake Erie. These types of vessels are frequent and for example a common visitor to the region would be a Great Lakes self discharging freighter. Some of these ships are of World War two vintage and carry a variety of cargos. A typical ship of this type would be approximately 188 m (620 feet) in length and be powered by 3000 H.P. diesel engines. The Cuyahoga shown immediately below, is one of the oldest still in service on the lake, with her keel being laid in 1943. I took this image because that sky was too hard to resist. And I also liked how my eye was pulled out of the frame by the two ships hulls alignments. In case you are interested, indispensable to my sojourns are two resources that I would highly recommend: maritimetraffic.com and the app clear outside. 

The next image is a good representation of a Great Lakes fish tug. Lake Erie has a robust commercial fishing industry and the lake now has a very healthy ecosystem. These fish tugs, some 60 feet in length, populate numerous harbours around Lake Erie, with the town of Wheatly for example, hosting the largest commercial freshwater fishing fleet in the world.

 

 

Erie is also a well known area for  bird watching, with nearby Point Pelee Park residing on a major migratory route. So as shown below, here are a couple of my attempts to capture local aquatic wildlife. The first image I called incoming. This flight of Canada geese was on its daily routine by heading back to Jack Miners bird sanctuary for their breakfast. That dark stormy sky with the racket of the birds; I felt that the image was “the lake”. The next image, I planned using maritimetraffic.com and the clear outside app. I waited for a really foggy morning and an accommodating illuminated Great Lakes freighter. I knew the exact spot which provided the eerie starkness I was looking for. The gulls and cormorant were having a discussion regarding the freighters passing as I took the photograph.

 

 

I was fortunate to be in Kingsville when the town played host to the 2018 Tall Ships festival. The weather was just right for me; gloomy early mornings and then clearing off mid day. Naturally, I was early on site to maximize the gloomy. The first image below is of the Empire Sandy, a 200 foot, 740 ton schooner based out of Toronto. I chose this shot since the sun was doing such great work with the selective light painting.

 

Next up is the iconic Bluenose 2. Constructed in 1963, the boat was built from the original plans of the original Bluenose of 1921 origin. My photographic rendition of this work of art is yes, I know, gloomy.  Still, she seemed at peace without any crew or observers nearby, so that was my opportunity. I am sure this may sound amusing, but I like to think these images have a soul. At least that is what I am trying to achieve. With the Bluenose shot, I  wanted to fill the frame without cropping out the water in the foreground. It is not apparent here, but on a 13 X 19 inch high resolution print, the water texture is obvious and an enhancement.

 

The region around the most southern part of the lake and the adjoining Detroit river is a  recreational paradise. Harbours are filled with sailboats and the area is full of backwaters that favour kayaks and paddle boarders. The image below is of an abandoned railroad bridge and was taken at the Cedar Creek Conservation area. This shot is a good example of scouting a location. I waited for a day when there was no wind blowing to maximize the reflections and for an accommodating paddle boarder to show up. Some tricky maneuvering was required with my Kayak to keep the hull out of frame. 

The next image is of the Pelee Islander 1 while resting at her home in Leamington. In this case, I choose myself as the point of interest.

 

Here I am with the Limnos,  a Canadian Coast guard research ship stationed on the lake. In case you are interested, I have on a  camera harness, that I find essential in securing my camera, when I am crawling around the rocks and inside ships. As always I am trying to improve my photography, so any suggestion or critiques are welcome and can be forwarded to antiquescope@gmail.com. My website is oharaphoto.ca and I built it myself with the attendant challenges, so I can offer a lot of advice if you are considering doing the same.  

Hopefully the reader has enjoyed my brief travelogue and I will leave you with a quote from Jay Maisel. 

“If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you are not out there, you’ll only hear about it.” 

All images are copyright protected.

 

Additional black & white images on this theme can be located at the Lake Erie in Black & White portfolio on my site.