This past week my family holidayed on the shores of Lake Huron, near Kincardine, Ontario. For a lad from the Prairies, the Great Lakes are incredibly imposing, with an astounding breadth of water and a skyscape that has the potential to change every few minutes.
On August 22, an F3 tornado hit Goderich, Ontario, about 54km south of Kincardine. While we witnessed much of the storm system as it crossed Lake Huron from the state of Michigan, Kincardine and beaches surrounding it received only a little rain. But the sky held drama, indeed, as I hope some of these photographs show.
Over the week, I had intended to photograph the Lake Huron shoreline in black-and-white with my Mamiya C330S; but the drama of the skies in the low light, along with the blowing wind (and sand) on the beach, quickly changed my mind – and so instead I used the other camera at my disposal, which is on my iPhone. I have been impressed with the Camera+ software on iOS and it didn’t disappoint me here. The images aren’t suitable for enlargements, but in low light the iPhone provided a very worthy image-capturing device, particularly when the stormy skies of the 22nd presented new images every few minutes. Many of the photographs from the 22nd were taken within a 20 minute span from different sections of Lorne Beach. Other than minor sharpening and straightening the images are as they were taken from the Camera+ software.
The Lake Huron shoreline is an idyllic spot; close yet remote, wonderful sand and surf when the wind blows – as it did this past week – and superbly friendly. Our thanks to the Tompa’s for their generous hospitality over this past week.