Star Trails

In this picture, Polaris appears to be motionless at the center of the field of circumpolar stars. All the other stars appear to circle about Polaris. The star trails form as the earth rotates during the hour long exposure.

All of God's creation gives Him glory and points to the master artist, but, viewing the heavens fills us with hope and reassures our faith that God is.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Psa 8:3
Without any wind, it was extra quiet in the cedar swamp as I made my way through the snow to a small lake to set up my tripod. When I arrived at the lake, the starry sky opened into a vista that only God could create.

Knowing that my camera battery would not last long in the zero degree temperatures I pointed the camera at the North Star (Polaris) and locked the shutter open for the next hour.

Perhaps more than any star other than our Sun, Polaris has been regarded as the most important star in the heavens. Its name comes from the Latin, Stella Polaris, meaning "Pole Star." Polaris has long been an important star to sailors and other navigators who make their way by stars.

Ice Land

During late Winter, Ice begins to break up on Lake Superior and gets pushed into piles along the shoreline.
In ice, the absorption of light at the red end of the spectrum is six times greater than at the blue end. Thus the deeper light energy travels, the more photons from the red end of the spectrum it loses along the way. Two meters into the ice, most of the reds are dead. A lack of reflected red wavelengths produces the color blue in the human eye

Snow Dunes

The arctic front charged into the area with -20F air temperatures and -50F wind chills. It was evident that this was going to be a strong cold front even by February standards.

As snow streamed across Caribou Lake it piled into wave like patterns that advanced across the surface of the lake like desert sand dunes shifting in the wind.

When I knelt into a drift to set up my tripod, the blowing snow quickly filled every seam in my camera bag and poked into my face like a thousand small needles. I took my gloves off for a few seconds to change some camera setting and the cold bit into my fingers so quickly that it caught me off guard. I was dressed for the weather, but this was extreme.

The setting sun highlighting the snow dunes was an awesome display of Gods creation, and even though the beautiful sunset only lasted for few minutes, that's about how long I lasted in the frigid wind chill. When I stepped back into my house, I appreciated the warm fireplace, far more than before I when outside.

I knew it wouldn't be long before the warmer days of spring would arrive, and the cold snaps of winter would fade into fond memories.

It's was amazing how the beauty of God's creation was there even in the midst of extreme weather. I think that's what he wants to show us in these situations, that he doesn't necessarily keep us from our difficulties, rather that He is there with us in the midst of our difficulties and that's how we learn to trust Him.

The stormy wind comes from its chamber, and the driving winds bring the cold.
God's breath sends the ice, freezing wide expanses of water. Job 37:9