Every year, Mid October to Mid or late November, Lake Erie gets angry.
With the weather changing, the wind blowing it creates some pretty crazy waves on the lake which can make for some impressive shots as long as you watch the wave reports and know when to make an appearance. With October being pretty mild so far I’m hoping that we might get a little more time to photograph waves this year. Typically I wait for stormy days and won’t go if the wave report states that the wind is anything less than 25 knots, from past experience anything other than that the waves aren’t big enough. Key thing here.. dress warm.. yesterday it was 13ºC .. not to bad right? .. WRONG! when by a lake on a windy day and no shelter.. it is cold! Full out winter jacket with Thermal lining, waterproof.. waterproof gloves, wind proof and waterproof pants, toque, gortex waterproof boots.. all very needed while out there.
9am I woke up and checked the wave report which read Gale Force Wind Warning and immediately knew it was game on, first wave shoot of the season! grabbed the camera, put the 200-500mm lens on and hit the road. Roughly an hour later I was at the lake and could see the waves from the parking lot, they were impressive. Long story short, I was able to shoot for roughly 2 hours before the wind changed and the waves died down, which is why the wave report is important.. things can change quickly and with an hour drive it could be a huge waste of time. This day was a bit different then when I’ve shot in the past, by that I mean the wind was coming in bursts which kind of made the lake act like a washing machine… the waves were all over the place and kind of “Messy”. Most times there’s a nice roll or peak to the waves but yesterday they were few and far between.. it was mainly a lot of angry smashing and big crashes with lots of spray that hid the waves but I still managed to get a few.
ERIE’S WATER WITCH
I see a witch with a cloak around her rising up out of the water as she looks to the East.
© Kevin Vyse Photography 2019
One other thing I want to note, just incase people live near here and want to go down and experience the waves. The pier is a dangerous place to be this time of year… I see a lot of people walking out there while the waves are doing their thing and as cool as it looks.. these waves are extremely unpredictable. While I was there shooting, pretty far back on the beach.. a few times while looking through the camera I didn’t notice the water, out of no where rushed up and got me.. nothing crazy but enough it went over the top of my boots and gave me a cold soaker. I saw a few people running out on to the pier to get closer and they quickly learnt how fast things can change. Here’s a shot just before a few got a nice little taste of what mother nature can do …