Sunrise at the Lakeshore, July 6th 2026

I am, and always will be a sucker for the sunrise. Sunset too, but there is something about crawling out of bed earlier than any human should that makes it feel like you have somehow earned it more. The lack of people and stillness of the morning don't hurt the vibe either.

It feels like cheating, but living minutes from the western shore of one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world makes it easy to get pretty shots of cotton candy skies. However, the soft pastel sky is not the problem; finding something else interesting to put in the shot is. The first few mornings feel like you're in the land of plenty but then, once you've photographed all of the obvious stuff, you've got to turn the creativity back on and start looking for interesting subjects. That didn't happen on this particular morning; I just shot the same old obvious stuff...

I may very well win an award for being the guy who has taken the most photographs of the Manitowoc lighthouse in history. But, with a sky like this and that sailboat silently floating through the scene, it's hard not to press the shutter. I think the sailboat adds a nice balance to the right side of the frame and the seagulls in the foreground give it a sense of depth. Does the leaning antenna on the top of the lighthouse make you feel like the photo isn't straight too? It's straight, trust me. Or is it...

A quick shuffle of my feet to the right and this scene was happening on the end of the South Pier. The lighthouse is on the end of the North Pier and the opening in between them is the entrance to the harbor. From a distance, this was a very calming scene to sit and watch. I thought there was something to the fact that every single living thing in the frame was there for the same purpose, which was to catch a fish. Except the guy closest to the right, standing by himself on his phone.

There are a few scenes that I have a million different photos of but will still stop to take another one every single time I'm there. One of the rocks reflecting in the water while standing in the spot where everyone gets married at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park, South Dakota. Another one is this one. The Manitowoc lighthouse seen through the branches of the pine tree on the south end of the 8th Street Bridge. Seriously, keep your eyes open on this site. I have so many of them. I believe an actual artist would call this a "study" of the lighthouse.

This one was so much cooler in my head than it turned out. The sunrise, the reflection of the decorated-for-the-Fourth-of-July submarine in the still water: it had to be good, right? I worked this scene every which way I could. It's a neat photo, I guess. It has symmetry. It has soft light. It has an actual WWII submarine, for god's sake! But still, meh. Maybe it's the way my edit makes it feel like it needs more contrast. I don't know.

Well, whether you like them or not, I had a very nice morning taking them!