Ahead of a trip to Europe in a few days, I needed to calibrate a few pieces of equipment so we decided to make an afternoon of it and head to Lake Michigan and catch the sunset.

For those of you unfamiliar with Lake Michigan, it is the 5th largest lake in the world with a surface area of 22,400 square miles and has over 1600 miles of shoreline.  It it also known as the largest lake in the world to be within the borders of a single country.  History suggests that the name Michigan comes from the Ojibwa word ‘Mishigami’ which translates into ‘Great Water’.   Very fitting.

Being that I live only 20 minutes from the lake, I figured it would be a good place to take the photos I needed to test the equipment.   Conditions were great and we were treated to a fantastic sunset, so what became a quick run for a few photos became bit of a ‘trip report’.

All of the following images were taken inside of Holland State Park.  Fortunately crowds were small but the view was large!  Enjoy!

A bit of history behind Holland Harbor:

a sign with text on it

 

No trip to the lake is complete with the standard Seagull photos……

a bird flying in the sky a bird flying in the sky

 

While waiting for the sunset, a Windsurfer provided some decent subject matter….

a person on a board a person on a board in the air a person on a surfboard

 

Then came the light show……..

a sunset over the ocean

I like this shot especially because of the contrast between the blue sky and clouds ‘blocking’ it from the sunset.

a group of birds flying over water

My favorite from the evening…..

a sunset over the ocean

 

a group of people on a pier at sunset

Visitors are treated to a dramatic sunset….

 

a red building on a dock with Holland Harbor Light in the background

Holland, Michigan’s famous Lighthouse at last light….


a close-up of a plane