I am fortunate to live in Wisconsin at the tip of an 80 mile long peninsula that sticks out into Lake Michigan. There are wonderful photographic opportunities in every season but my favorite time is winter. That does not mean that it is always easy or pleasant to photograph at this time and this image is a perfect example of that. I am always waiting for interesting winter conditions and unfortunately these occur most often when temperatures are around zero degrees fahrenheit and lower.
One evening in mid January I saw that it was forecast to be ten below zero with no wind the following morning which should be ideal conditions. I had recently scouted this stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline and found these ice formations on the shore and knew that at sunrise I could expect some interesting opportunities. I also was happy to see open water a distance from shore and with no wind, I might see some “sea smoke” as the lake water condensed. I was on site well before sunrise and composed this scene with my 14mm lens and then waited for the sun to appear and do the rest.