Blue-headed green frog, Northern Michigan. August 14, 2016
My favorite photos for August 14 all came from the same year, 2016. I was leading a photography workshop in Northern Michigan and we were out on an evening field trip. It turned out to be a great evening for photography, so it was hard to pick THE favorite photo for the day.
I decided on an image of the incredibly rare blue-headed green frog. The blue color is caused by a genetic mutation. Only one in two million green frogs has a blue head. It was a huge treat for all of us. The frog was in a pond at the Thorne Swift Nature Preserve north of Harbor Springs Michigan.
But that wasn’t the only prize photo opportunity of the evening.
Sunset, Lake Michigan. Thorne-Swift Nature Preserve.
After taking pictures of the frog we headed for the beach in time to catch a beautiful sunset over Lake Michigan.
The rare green flash over Lake Michigan.
But Mother Nature wasn’t done with the surprises. As the sun dropped out of sight we had a glimpse of the rare “green flash” just above the cloud layer. I have been at hundreds of sunsets and have only seen the green flash three times and captured it in a photo only twice. The short moment of green light is caused by a special bending of the light rays from the sun.
Photo field trip at Lake Michigan Shores Roadside Park.
We moved to a new location (the nature preserve closes after sunset) to do some night sky photography over Lake Michigan. We used red headlamps so our eyes would stay dark adapted.
Milky Way over Lake Charlevoix from Park of the Pines campground, Michigan.
We ended up back at home base for the workshop, Park of the Pines on Lake Charlevoix. The Milky Way was visible right before a thunderstorm rolled in and hid the sky.
It was a great evening for photography!
Link