A Vast Snow and Ice FieldFrozen Lake Erie in Winter
Lake Erie photographed from the Hamburg Beach a few miles south of Buffalo, NY. I had to walk in a bit and cross a line of snow volcanoes, a snow and ice buildup along the shore. In fact, that is what provided my elevated viewpoint here. While I often try to get low to the ground for a different perspective I intentionally wanted to be higher up here to be able to tilt my camera down, not give much focus to the cloudless sky and show more of the lake surface with the choppy ice and snow in the photograph.
Once past the snow volcano line, the landscape was flat and frozen as far as one could see. That is what I imagine the arctic tundra to look like but this one is right in my back yard. It's a true and amazing transformation of the lake. It's something impossible to explain to those that have never seen it. And if you happen to be reading this post and are one of those that have never witnessed this view, all I can say is head out and check it out before the winter is over.
Over the last few years these views have been somewhat sparse. Warmer winters in the past couple seasons prevented the lake from fully freezing like this. As if to make up for that, this 2013 / 2014 winter season more than made up for that. The layer of ice on Lake Erie was truly solid! For example the Small Boat Harbor popular with ice fishermen has a layer of more than a foot as of February 8, 2014.
Arctic Tundra on the LakeshoreFrozen Lake Erie in Winter
Sources:
Photo Equipment Used:
Nikon D600, Nikon 24-85mm Nikkor Lens, Manfrotto tripod (055MF3; replaced by 055CXPRO3 with the convenient Q90 column) and Manfrotto Ball Head (496RC2), Think Tank Speed Demon Waist Pack, SanDisk Extreme 32GB SD Cards, Nikon Capture NX2.
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