I'm still at the parking
lot here at the Indiana Dunes National Park
I've already taken a couple of photos
I'm very captivated about those footprints on the dunes
because they contrast very well with the very...
otherwise very uniform surface
so I'm gonna take a picture of those footprints
in this case, I'm going to include one of those...
I guess they are dead trees, on top of the dune
to complement and to give a little bit of context
I'm gonna use the 50mm lens for this
all right, I think it's looking nice for being just the first photograph of the day
I'm sure we'll find many more, so let's go
it feels so good to be outside today
this is the first time in a long time that I drive somewhere
that I'm on the road somewhere for photography
as I said in my previous video
most of my photography this winter was done just in town, during my daily walks
but for the next couple of days I have a car
and I can go pretty much anywhere I want around here
gonna take the trail to the beach
let's see if I can go down there
because of all the times that I've been here
it's been quite a few
only around half of the times I can actually go down
in any case, I already took the first 2-3 photos in the parking lot
as you know, I like to start taking photos as early as possible
because it puts me in the mood for the rest of the day
that's what I was trying to do there
thankfully, even though this winter I haven't gone to many places
I was doing photography almost every day
so I didn't get to the place where I'm rusty
where I'm trying to build momentum
so I'm hoping that will not be a problem
these trees are so cool...
look at that
so cool
let's take a photo
I haven't been here in almost 2 years, so it's nice
we have a beautiful gray and dreary day
which are my favorite kind of days to photograph
I love the light, the dullness, everything about these days
because they are like a blank canvas
you can just make whatever you want out of them
man, I haven't done this in months, it feels so good
oh, there you go
it looks like they built a new trail, a new path to the beach
it's open
nice
it looks like the ocean, doesn't it?
of course on the other side we have the power plant
but that actually makes for a good subject
something that I'm going to be photographing shortly
all right, so it got pretty loud from here on
the lake was raging that day
I'll be doing some voice over here and there, so it doesn't get too annoying
anyway, here you can see me setting up my camera to make a long exposure
I usually go for long exposures when there's water in the scene
to make whatever I'm photographing stand out more
by removing the ripples and the details from the water
there are not too many subjects on that beach
and even less with clean and unspoiled sand around
there are just footprints everywhere
so even though this branch wasn't the most interesting subject ever
I think it worked just fine
I was trying to contrast the nature of the place with the power plant in the background
the only doubt, the only question I had here was where to place that branch in the frame
I ended up going with across the frame, from bottom right to top left
I also shot this wide open, to blur out the plant a little bit
and all the little rocks and sticks that were behind the branch itself
all right, not my best image, but you gotta try
actually, this one right here would have been much better
composition wise
because it's like a leading line to the power plant
but it's just too busy for my taste here
there are way too many footprints
so I'm gonna keep going, I'm gonna keep walking towards the nuclear plant
and see if I can find something else
hopefully you can still hear me, it's pretty loud today
there are a lot of waves
but I like, I love shooting at Lake Michigan
compared to shooting at the ocean
because...
I think there are tides, but they are very tiny compared to the ocean
I'm pretty sure there could be a sneaker wave but again
I haven't experience even one
so I've lost zero cameras, zero lenses
no camera gear has been destroyed at Lake Michigan compared to the ocean
hopefully I don't jinx it, maybe I shouldn't have said that
there's still plenty of time to ruin gear
but yeah, let's hope not
two things were becoming very clear to me as I kept going on that beach
first, that the power plant was going to be the main if not the only subject of the day
and second, that landscape, the light...
everything actually looked very nice when I went for high key images
so I tried to mix it all up
the tower, the beach, the long exposures, the high key
and the result is probably my favorite image of the day
so I'm photographing yet again the nuclear plant, the power plant
I think it's pretty much the only subject I've been photographing here
but I really, really like the contrast...
and I don't mean that I like the power plant
of course, it's kind of ugly
but I like it for the images
because I think it's a good contrast between the nature and the beauty of Lake Michigan
and this beautiful beach, with that thingy there
I think that makes for a more interesting image
and now the sun is coming out, that's not good news for me
but it's still a beautiful day
all right, so just to change, just to do something different
I took a long exposure of the beach looking in that direction
I kind of like it
the sun was out and the water was bright, so that created some contrast
it's okay
but I keep going back to the power plant
in this case I'm not going for the big round tower on the right
I'm going for the thinner tower on the left
I'm gonna try to capture that in between those trees
and I think it will look great
those trees are beautiful, I love the trees at the dunes
I love that they are in this grass
I love them, and I'm hoping to make some images of those trees
I took one earlier, but I'm hoping to make more because they are absolutely gorgeous
I'm gonna take this photo
I was filming my camera, when I saw something from the corner of my eye
and I made a run for my backpack
no no no no no no no no
it turned out to be a tiny wave, but I'm so paranoid now
that's just my default reaction, I guess
for a second, I thought I was going to have to eat my words about safety at the lake
as you can see, as national parks go
the Indiana Dunes National Park is not the most unspoiled one
this part of the shore is filled with heavy industry, and it shows
but instead of wishing we were in some remote wilderness
we have to embrace whatever we find and make the images the place calls for
that's what I tried to do here with that bush and power line
but I guess there wasn't much there, or I couldn't find it at least
I really like this one
I love that tree / bush
I left on the top left corner, a little bit of the branches from that bigger tree
like they are reaching out to the small one
I like that composition quite a lot
as I said earlier, the trees around here are very, very beautiful
what makes them beautiful is the grass and the dunes where they are
I've always loved that
there are more trees that way so I'm hoping to get more images
but I'm very limited about where I can go
you cannot go on the dunes
and the actual beach ends here
so we'll see how far I can keep going
but yeah, a beautiful place
I'm so glad that it's a national park now
this is just a small section of the whole thing
but this is very, very good for a place like Indiana, for sure
long exposure here, for sure
those rocks, with that metallic fence could be cool
but, maybe, potentially boring
I'm playing with the tree and with that fence
one option is to have the fence pointing that way, the tree on the right
but I don't love it
I mean, might be cool from here, actually
yeah, I'm definitely trying this one from here
yeah, I think it's going to work
I made two images here that I liked in the field
but now, I kind of wish I hadn't shot them wide open
I think they would have looked a little bit better stepping the lens down just a notch
maybe not
these are the kind of photos that either grow on me over time
or I end up hating
so, we will see
huh, this just keeps going
I'm curious about where it goes
to this
well, so I guess this is it
I was about to call it quits anyway
because I'm a little bit tired
but mostly, I am freezing
of course, I brought all of my camera gear with me
I have a lot of cameras and lenses
but I forgot the gloves in the car
and my hands are very, very cold
actually, I stopped really quick to take a another long exposure
pretty low, almost on the ground
of that fence, again
but from this side, something I had nothing when I first walked in here
it's done
and it's looking very nice
this might not look steep, but it is
I hope you realize that I have to go back and grab the video camera
so I'm climbing this twice
it's a good exercise isn't it
this is going to be it for today
it was great to be out again, it was awesome
I had a lot of fun, I really missed being in the field and discovering new things
even though this place... I've been here plenty of times
but there is always something new to find
I hope you like Lake Michigan as much as I do,
because there will be more videos coming from here very soon
but yeah, that will be another day
for now
thank you so much for watching
and see you in the next one!