Buck Creek

 A gorgeous sunset at Buck Creek State Park a couple of nights ago. 

Fog rolling in from the Prairie View area

More CJ Brown Auroras

 This Solar Max Cycle is churning up Auroras that were visible last night into the southern US.
We photographed them from the CJ Brown Reservoir and the show did not disappoint!
Here's a few favorites, and many more are uploaded into our Auroras Gallery (linked above). 

Ohio Auroras.....Again!!!!

Tonight we had another Aurora show at CJ Brown.
We hadn't intended to stop there, but fellow photographer, Mary Ann, messaged me that she and her hubby were there and that they had some faint color.
We dropped by and as we were chatting in the dark and getting chilled, the aurora popped up and put on a show!!
The Kp Index (measurement of Earth's magnetic field) had suddenly jumped up to 7.
The colors and pillars were faintly visible to the naked eye, but our cameras caught them beautifully. 
I was without my tripod, but thanks to the OM-1's 7 stops of image stabilization, I was able to hand-hold these shot. They were all 4 second exposures. In addition, the OM-1's Starry Sky autofocus mode locked focus on the stars effortlessly. 
Some favorites.

September Evening Light Show...

 We took a short drive through Buck Creek State Park and caught the brief end of the sunset. We thought that we'd missed the sunset colors....but little did we know that the real show was just starting! As we parked and walked down to the CJ Brown Beach a huge wall cloud was moving in and the lightning show began....here's my favorite shots. These were all shot using the OM-1's Live Composite mode. In that mode, a base image is captured and then subsequent exposures are added to the base image....but only new light is added. It's great for lightning and fireworks. The skill is in holding the camera still (while hand-holding) for the entire time that images are being captured...these shots are from 10-25 seconds each. From the beach and parking lot at CJ Brown.

Old Mackinac Lighthouse Point

We some unexpected view of the Aurora last night when a cracked developed in the Earth's magnetic field. 

Not the best auroras we've experienced here in Mackinaw City,  but still lovely!

Arrowhead Orbweavers

 I've been seeing a good nymber of Arrowhead Orbweavers this season. Such an interesting spider. 

Here's a few from Cedar Bog and Buck Creek State Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Osprey Encounter

 This Osprey came in CLOSE!