Snags in Winter Wetlands

I am fascinated by the importance and beauty of dead trees (aka: “snags”) in ecosystems. I’ve shared, in previous posts, why I consider them so important for ecosystems but I have never really shared why I find them so visually alluring. It might be because when I was a child, my family’s dining room had a picture that was drawn by the local art teacher which I, for some reason, found fascinating. It was a charcoal drawing on burlap of a collection of sparse conifers and snags in a bog - a very typical scene which can be found in many places across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I could look at it over and over again and see stories and history and biology. I see bogs with conifer trees pretty regularly whenever driving down just about any given highway in the U.P. - and every single one of them reminds me of that picture.

I don’t know if those landscapes are inherently beautiful or if they are just alluring to me because of the picture that hung in our dining room. In any case, the moment I drove past the location in this picture, I could see its potential. I have gone back to it time and again and it always presents a scene that is differently beautiful to me. Though, it never feels quite as full of life as it does when the night sky is dancing above it.

Red Sky at Night...

The aurora borealis on a moonlit night along Lake Superior. This red sky blew my mind…what a phenomenal evening to be taking pictures of the night sky. The thing that I found most interesting about this picture was the ice and snow formation at the base of the picture. It was extremely precarious getting into position - the ice was slippery and the contours of the Lake Superior shoreline made it difficult to not fall down and slide into the lake. Add the fact that I refuse to use a flashlight when doing night photography because even the dimmest “white light” flashlights kill human night vision. I do have a red flashlight, which works great for preserving night vision…but they can sometimes make it challenging to see certain shadows of ground contours.