Day and Night

Every year in Duluth the city creates a lighting spectacle in Bayfront Park on the harbor.  Bentleyville draws thousands of visitors from all over to witness this event and it was recently featured on The Great Christmas Light Fight!
The December full moon was on the 11th and I hoped to capture an image of the moon, Bentleyville and the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge.  After first using Photopills to scout possible vantage points to shoot from, I settled on a spot along the Superior Hiking Trail that offered a view of all three.  I went out earlier in the day to inspect the site, felt it would work well.  In the light, it seemed like it had everything I was looking for.

However, come night, it did not live up to my expectations.  It had too much foreground, the moon was higher than I had hoped for and overall, seemed to be lacking something.

Sadly, the weather the next day would be snowy and cloudy so no re-shoot was possible.  I did take one of the images and crop to a panorama that, again, not great, but fun and colorful to look at.

Adjustments

For the fourth year in a row, I had made a plan to take part in the “Opt Outside” movement started by REI.  It has grown over the years to include many other businesses.  In Minnesota, all the state parks are open to the public for free on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
However, as the day drew nearer, I became concerned about the weather due to the extended forecast calling for freezing rain on Friday and I had hoped to travel up the north shore of Lake Superior to visit Cascade River State Park.  In the event travel wasn’t possible on Friday, I chose to take my trip on the day before Thanksgiving and opted to only go as far as Temperance River State Park.  I also made stops at Gooseberry Falls State Park and Tettegouche State Park.
As it turned out, not only did it not rain till much later in the day Friday, the temps were in the low forties.  Over the three days around Thanksgiving I managed to get in three very nice hikes. The day up the shore, through the woods and on the shore of Park Point and on the Superior Hiking Trail above Duluth.  Not once did I think about wanting to go shopping!  (Except for some thoughts of getting some new hiking boots.)

Here are a few memories from the last three days.  If you stare at the black & white image for awhile, it morphs in to all kinds of strange things.