Silver Beach Photography
At the end of August, I spent the day with my family at Silver Beach on Lake Michigan in St. Joseph, MI. It wasn’t crowded since local kids were back in school.
There was a breeze most of the day, so the water was a bit choppy, but it was perfect for photographing light reflecting on the surface.
Photographing the Northern Venture Ship
When I first walked onto the beach, the freighter ship Northern Venture was heading from Lake Michigan between the piers and into the St. Joseph River.
I wasn’t able to get to the pier during that time to get closeup photos, but I did manage to get some nice photos from the shore.
I thought there would be a good chance the ship would come out by the end of the day, so I kept an eye out for it.
Walking the South Pier at Silver Beach
In the afternoon, a few of us walked along the south pier, fishing along the way. The pier is about 1800 feet long.
At the end of the pier, there was a concrete block about 8-ft tall with steps leading to the top.
It gave a great vantage point for some good angles of swimming and the lighthouses across the channel on the north pier.
Chasing a Ship on Foot For a Photo
Late in the day I had given up on seeing another ship when my 5 y/o said, “Why is that building moving?” I looked over the sand dunes behind us and between the trees I could see the boom of the ship moving down the river.
I told my wife the ship was coming and I grabbed my camera and ran. Literally. Between the two of us, we documented my attempt to outrun the ship. You can see the sequence of events in the video below.
Photographing IN Lake Michigan
I love to get out into the water and photograph instead of just standing on the shore. I like how being physically close with the camera translates into viewers feeling like they’re right in the water with me.
Photographing a Silver Beach Sunset (Obstructed)
At the end of the day we were watching our kids play in the water at sunset when these three people stopped directly in front of us and started taking photos, blocking our view of the sunset and our children.
There was so much open beach where they could have stood instead. It was so absurd we just had to laugh and take a photo of them.
So that’s the day doing photography at Silver Beach!
Related Posts
To see more beach photos, check out my series of posts from the Florida Keys. For info about Silver Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan, talk a look at their website.