David Barthel - North Shore Images PhotographyDavid Barthel North Shore Images Photography
David Barthel

Photo Journal & News

Friday, April 30, 2010

Reason to Rest


With the blessings of consistently warmer than normal temperatures for some time, spring is certainly in the air. Birds announce the increasingly early dawn with their buoyant melodies. New blades of grass and other plants are poking through the renewed soil. And, at least two weeks early, the trees are releasing new leaves that will provide nutrients for themselves and summer shade for forests and backyards.

The capstone on one of the the most recent of these pleasant spring days was the April full moon. April's full moon is sometimes known as the "Pink Moon" due to the widespread pink wild ground phlox flowering during this month.





As the moon ascended over the lake just before sunset from behind Wisconsin's distant shore, many of the relatively few people strolling Duluth's Lakewalk and Canal Park paused for a moment to take in this natural spectacle that occurs only once per month, an event that has inspired awe and wonder in every generation of humans that has ever lived.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Surf's Up

Lake Superior takes on a variety of moods throughout the seasons. On this warm spring afternoon, the lake seemed a bit agitated, but certainly not enraged, so I headed down to the breakwater at the edge of Grand Marais' harbor.

Although benign when compared with waves generated during any one of Superior's infamous autumn gales, the moderate breeze on this otherwise calm sunny afternoon kicked up the surf enough to periodically bring a cold dampness to this photographer's shoes while I tried to stay composed in capuring the energy of the lake. I was rewarded with an occasional several-foot splash against the rocky shore near the breakwater.