Lake Michigan in Autumn

The past few weeks have provided us with some great sights on the lake shore of Lake Michigan

Before sunrise in South Haven

Waves blasting the outer lighthouse in St. Joseph

The St.Joseph Lighthouse, still under restoration, getting pounded by high waves.

A colorful sunset in South Haven

The Grand Haven lighthouses weathering the waves of Lake Michigan

Big Red in Holland stands watch over the wind-tossed Lake Michigan

Water spray from high wave action engulfs the South Haven lighthouse

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A Rare View-- A Day Spent on Top of the South Haven Lighthouse

Peering over the lighthouse's beacon at the Friends Good Will in the distance

   Every once in a while, an opportunity to cross off a "bucket list" comes along.  August 7th was just such a day. 

    If you have followed my work for any amount of time, you have realized that I spend a lot of my free time photographing scenes of the lighthouse in South Haven, Mi.  Growing up in the area and spending time as a kid on the pier, I always wondered what the view looked like from the top of the lighthouse.  So, two years ago, I added seeing inside the South Haven lighthouse and taking photos from the top to my bucket list.  On Thursday the 6th, the opportunity to cross of an item on my list came to me in the form of a text from a fellow photographer.  

The first ever Lighthouse Sit

  

She was invited to take part in the first ever Lighthouse Sit.  An event created by the Historical Association of South Haven (H.A.S.H.) during the start of the annual Blueberry Festival to raise awareness and funds to aid in restoring South Haven's iconic lighthouse.  Unfortunately for her she could not stay for her entire 2-hour shift and she needed someone to fill-in for her.   How could I say no to a friend in need, right?  Not only would I get a chance to be inside the lighthouse but also hopefully help raise some money for the restoration efforts.  Please browse through the images and if you can, donate to H.A.S.H. to help them restore the lighthouse.  I will provide links at the end of post on how you can contact HASH and make a donation.

   Upon entering the lighthouse, it was easily apparent the see the lighthouse was in need of a serious overhaul.  The white  interior gave contrast to paint peeling from the wood work and the stains of metal rusting were to be seen everywhere in lighthouse's interior.

View from the ground floor at the rusted steel
ladder that gives entrance to the
second level of the lighthouse.

  Rusted rivets,  bulged seams and holes in the metal flooring show the urgency of the restoration efforts 

Holes in the second floor as seen from below

Holes rusted through the second floor

Corrosion growing between the riveted metal seams

This small ladder on the second floor leads to a small opening to gain access to the third floor beacon room.

The beacon

I must admit,  I never would have thought the beacon to be so small.  I don't think that it is much more than 12 inches in diameter

The Spire on top of the lighthouse's roof

I have countless images of the lighthouse and every one the spire appears to be a smooth sphere.  But being this close to it tells a different tale.  It too has seen better days

Corrosion around the metal frames that hold the glass
in place in the beacon room

The folks that get the nod to do the restoration will have their work cut out for them.  It was really hard to find and area of the lighthouse that did not need attention in some form or another

Ok,  Now that I have depressed you all with scenes depicting the state of the lighthouse, here are some images that hope you will enjoy from my second visit to the lighthouse in the evening on Friday night.

A light rain passed through a gave us a small double rainbow.

The Friends Good Will Heading out for its sunset cruise

A Fishing boat coming in

The Day's Catch

A parting shot before making my descent back to ground level--  a sunset on Big Blue

If you are able to donate to the lighthouse fund, please do!  Your efforts will help ensure South Haven's lighthouse will be around for generations to come.  

LINKS:

Historical Association of South Haven Facebook page

www.facebook.com/historicalassociationofsouthhaven?fref=ts

Historical Association of South Haven GoFundMe link:

http://www.gofundme.com/lkezkg

New HASH website:

http://historyofsouthhaven.org/

You can visit any of these links to get information on the restoration progress and how to donate.

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Winter's End?

With the temperatures in SW Michigan breaking into the upper 40's for the first time, in which seems like months, staying out on the frozen tundra of Lake Michigan was enjoyable to say the least!  Gone were the bone-chilling northern winds and snow as were the insulated overalls, heavy gloves and ski mask.  Just me and my camera capturing which will be (hopefully) the beginning of the end of wintry images in Michigan this year.  Bring on Spring!!  But until then, let's enjoy the end of winter :D  

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Scenes of Winter 2015

Here is a collection of my images of South Haven, Mi since the first of the year. All of these images are available for purchase from my website www.alouisphotography.com   Feel free to leave comments on this post and be sure to sign up to receive email updates from my blog.  All you have to do is enter your email in the space above( and prove you are human!  ;) )

2.26.2015--"Fire over Ice"

1.2.2015--"Jaws of Ice"

1.20.2015-- "untitled"  

1.2.2015--"untitled"  

1.2.2015--"Icy Reflections"  I managed

 to capture the reflection

of the lighthouse in this pool of water

 before it froze.

1.2.2015-"Winter's Reflection"

1.10.2015--"IceHouse 2015-Night"  I just

 couldn't resist coming back at

 night to capture an image of  the

 lighthouse after dark!

 

1.2.2015--  Ice boulders piled high on South Haven's south pier made 

it treacherous walking to get to the end of the pier.  

But it was worth it.....

1.10.2015--  Ice boulders, some measuring over 3 feet in diameter, 

where effortlessly hurled onto the pier by the crashing

 waves of Lake Michigan.

1.10.2015--"The Night Watch"  This image was 

not posted on Facebook.

1.10.2015-- With aid from the giant size boulders, I was able to get a

 shot of the lighthouse from this vantage point.  I was standing on a

 large boulder that was sitting on about 2 feet 

of ice to capture this.

2.23.2015-- South Haven's pier rests quietly under 

a blanket of snow

1.10.2015--"IceHouse 2015"-  The South Haven 

lighthouse wearing its winter coat of ice.

 

 All images copyrighted, all rights reserved.  ©2015 A. Louis Photography-- www.alouisphotography.com