The year of discipline?

I mean, I guess that's why I started this blog, to do something and stick to it. I don't know if it's inklings of midlife crisis, but I'm realizing more and more that our time on this earth is very finite, even more so the older you get; there's certainly no guarantees in life. So this morning, after reading some of Vincent Laforet's brilliant blog (I was on the topic of photographers being their own worst editors), I went back into my image library of some images that didn't "make the cut" the first time around, usually due to time constraints. The image below is a prime example of this, it's not a perfect image by any means,(in this case due to an inferior extender and poor lighting) but on second look almost a year later, it has some cool things about it:



Unidentified surfer, Lake Superior, Marquette MI

I chose the Lake Superior surfer image for today as I have been working on a couple projects related to Lake Superior surfing, and, once again, I'm off on one of my sidetracked winding tangents. I posted a quick blog here for the local surf crew as I know many of the surfers in the area are getting pics and vids that they want to share, and this would be a great way of having a central point to find those.
I look forward to the feedback on this.

So where am I going with this? Going off on tangents isn't necessarily the best use of time,being reminded once again time on Earth is very finite.

It's hit me like a ton of bricks that structure and discipline are necessary, very necessary to get on top of workflow processes to be more productive. Laforet's final cut blog really struck a nerve with me when I realize I have over a year's worth of images that I haven't even gotten to a second look for the "final, final cut".

Where there's a will, There's a wave

Still thinking about that last surf trip in the dead of winter, on the coldest day of winter to date, with open water waning on Lake Superior. The water was right on the edge of freezing, as evidenced by the growing surface ice. It was interesting how the surface ice that was forming,from a surfer's point of view, acted as kelp beds in turning the water to glassy condition, something you rarely see on the lakes. The two choices of surfable waves that day were blown out waves at Hurricane River, had bigger waves, but a nasty sidewind, -or- sheltered Grand Sable Dunes,smaller waves, but awesomely glassy. With such positive stoke in the air, on this day it was Grand Sable. The only way down to the waves was a 300 ft slippery steep slope down the frozen dune of Log Slide-can't wait to get back to this spot again under more forgiving conditions.

Grand Sable waves- more pics from the Grand Sable surf trip available at a later date.

A cure for cabin fever

Winter really feels like it's setting in in earnest. So when the details came together about an expedition by some Great Lake surfers out to Grand Sable Dunes, I volunteered, as I felt that this might be the last surfable waves of the season with the lake freezing up fast. I had been out to Grand Sable many times when there were absolutely beautiful sets rolling in and always wanted to see surfers there. However, I don't think we could have picked a more difficult day in terms of snow, ice, and temps. Well, yes we could have, if it would have been snow blowing sideways, then photos of this trip would have been impossible as everything Au Sable was taken from the overlook or near there 300 feet up.
Surfable waves on the lakes don't happen every day. In fact, there's really only two times of year when the waves are at their biggest, late Fall/early Winter and after ice out in the Spring. So when the forecast called for 12-16 foot waves on Jan 05, 2009, we jumped on it.
Temps for the day didn't go much above zero all day. The winds, however, dropped considerably, which when all was said and done was probably a blessing.
We met up at Pictured Rocks Visitor Center 5 mi east of Au Sable. From there we snomobiled in, with surfboards strapped to one sled and equipment in backpacks such as wetsuits, 600 ft of safety rope to get down the "Log Slide", (a 300 ft sand dune), and lots of fortitude.
We checked out Log Slide and Hurricane River and decided on Log Slide due to the cleaner little peelers with less side wind and current to deal with. Dan is a freekin mountain goat. He basically ran down the Log Slide and was surfing before Billy even got his harness on to rappel down. I reeeeally wanted to get to the bottom, but no way for me. I didn't have cleats to dig in to the ice for footing, was hesitant, the dune was frozen and steep, so I reluctantly took a pass.
As it turned out, a birdseye view provided for some incredible sights and I'm glad it worked out that way. It was interesting to see surface ice forming on the horizon, slowly creeping forward with a fingerlike appearance, which seemed to contribute to dampening the waves down to a glassy appearance. Combine that with passing clouds reflecting pastels on the water with the low winter sunlight for a spectacular view. There's nothing like winter.

As usual, wave conditions were not even close to the forecast, the gentle waves made it possible to get in the water without getting pegged by slushballs on the shoreline. If waves had been bigger, it probably would have been a no go. So that's it for now,more pics will be available at a later date.