August 15, 2024Explore Magazine
Photo by Michael DeWitt
Michael DeWitt waited until the sunrise was perfect to capture this photo.
Eight years ago, before dawn on an unusually calm June morning on Lake Superior, Michael DeWitt piloted his boat 20 miles offshore from Bayfield, carefully positioned it inside a small sandstone sea cave on one of the Apostle Islands and waited for the sunrise to work its magic.
“And then, it did,” he says. “The rising sun, scattering diffused light through wispy clouds, lit the sandstone brilliantly. The freshly greened out trees on the adjacent peninsula glowed with a luminescence seemingly reserved for a handful of early summer days in the islands.”
He shared with Milwaukee Magazine the story behind this photo, which we selected for the monthly Big Picture feature shot in our August issue:
Where exactly is this, and when did you take the shot?
This image was made in early summer of 2016 along the eastern coastline of Stockton Island in the Apostles on Lake Superior.
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How did you decide to photograph it, and what did you like about this composition? Is there a story behind this shot?
I had explored and scouted this section of Stockton many times and knew the potential for a great image was there. However, it’s a rare day when The Lake is calm enough to allow approach along the coastline here. It’s extremely exposed, rugged, and rocky, with no real place to get good hold with an anchor. If it isn’t dead calm, it’s a hard pass.
Viewing this image now is somewhat bittersweet, as the year after I made it much of the sandstone cliff included in the composition here went down during a gale on Labor Day Weekend. The sea cave is completely gone, reduced to a massive pile of broken sandstone. Thousands of years in the making, one last Lake Superior gale to end it. The violence that lake brings to these islands is both frightening and impressive. We were camping on Outer Island that night during the gale, but that’s a story for another day.
[Editor’s note: We can’t recommend enough reading DeWitt’s gripping account of that harrowing night.]
What, to you, “makes” this image?
If you’ve ever had the opportunity to explore the Apostles, you’ll know that simply getting there is a big part of the adventure. Lake Superior is well known for her unpredictable moods. This particular day was a fortunate convergence of good (calm) weather in the outer ring of islands, combined with atmospheric haze that pleasantly diffused the rising sun and produced amazing light on the scene.
What do you find so appealing about photographing the Apostle Islands?
I’ve lived here in northern Wisconsin near the Bayfield Peninsula for over 30 years and have spent countless days exploring and adventuring in the Apostles with family and friends. It’s where I go to find balance and inspiration, and an escape from a busy world. I solo camp in the Apostles every week during the open water season, and generally that’s when I produce the bulk of my work. Those islands are as wild and untamed as nearly anywhere I’ve ever been, and that’s the biggest appeal for me. The rugged beauty speaks for itself.
What’s your background as a photographer?
For the past 25 years, I’ve owned an IT consulting business – that’s my “real” job. Photography is the creative outlet I never knew I needed but am beyond grateful to have. It brings balance to an otherwise chaotic life.
While I’ve done some travel and cityscape photography over the years, the Apostles are the landscape that speaks to me and unlocks whatever creativity is trapped inside my analytical IT brain.