Hi everyone! My name is Becky Wilde. I’m a hobbyist photographer and I enjoy taking photos of anything outdoors in nature. I picked up a camera during Covid and have been creating ever since. My husband and I moved from Indianapolis, Indiana to Grand Haven, Michigan in May 2023. I quickly became obsessed with photographing the local lighthouse to the point where some other photographers lovingly nicknamed me “Lighthouse Becky”. Look at her though, isn’t she a beauty?

Clearly, when I was asked to write a blog for The Framed Focus, I had to write about my new happy place! I spent my first year in Grand Haven studying how to capture the raw beauty of my new home. As photographers we stalk the light anywhere we explore. So consider this an informal light study of a lighthouse across the seasons.

Summer

The summer weather in West Michigan is so perfect that it’s basically the only reason people put up with living through the winters. The sunsets are much further north in the sky so I have to be pretty far south on the beach to get the sunset behind the lighthouse. Being new to the area, I tried to capture the same sunset in various ways to see what I prefer. I might pull out a wide angle lens to focus on the dramatic sun rays or use my telephoto lens to catch the light glinting off the water. These two images were taken three minutes apart but each tells a different story. News flash - I like them both and don’t ever ask me to stick to one lens!

My favorite thing about summer weather is the chance for calmer winds, which allow me opportunities to capture a night time reflection image. The nighttime views here are rarely this peaceful in other seasons, so I take advantage of these photo opportunities when I can in the summer.

Fall

My first fall in Grand Haven introduced me to the quickly changing weather patterns that we experience in West Michigan. I woke up one morning and checked the live beach webcam… something I’ve learned to do regularly! My morning glance paid off because I saw a rainbow in the webcam view and RAN out the door. I was the only photographer out there for two hours and I saw at least EIGHT! rainbows over the lake. It was a magical morning that I’ll never forget.

Fall is the season where I start working my way closer to the lighthouse to shoot sunsets because the angle of the sun starts lining up with the pier. I started using the rocks on the pier as compositional elements. The skies are moody and the crowds disappear, which made this one of my favorite seasons to photograph.

As we edge closer to Winter, things get pretty wild in West Michigan. The local photographers warned me that November is known to have the fiercest winds. Hard conditions to shoot in because of the ferocity of the wind, but also entrancing at the same time. I can confirm that protective eyewear is helpful, there’s no hope of using a tripod, and you do NOT change your lens.

Winter

Now I realize that most people hate Winter and think I’m crazy for moving North. We may not see the sky for a month straight, but the ice and snow make the photos amazing even without good lighting.

On the rare occasions we DO see the sky, it tends to put other seasons to shame. I’ve fallen in love with the cotton candy colors of a winter sunset. My favorite ways to capture it are with a wide angle to capture the bold skies and reflections. Or I’d go to the north side of the channel to get the sunset behind the lighthouse and use the ice as a foreground. I will gladly suffer through the bitter cold for these breathtaking views.

Spring

As much as I claim to love Winter in that last section I really enjoy when Spring arrives and we thaw out. The skies are very much like Fall, and the sunset starts moving south in the sky to my favorite position by the lighthouse. Anyone that lives in a location with four seasons knows that a normal Spring day is volatile and the weather shifts wildly. You never know the kind of atmosphere the weather will produce. I found everything from rain clouds glowing in the sky, a few last cotton candy Winter sunset glows, and fierce waves crashing on the pier. The best part is I can stop wearing long underwear and two layers of gloves!

And that wraps up my first year as Lighthouse Becky! After this year I’ve decided I need a second camera body. That way I don’t have to switch between my wide angle and telephoto on the beach and clean the endless sand out of my sensor. I’ve grown to love every season in different ways. The continual changing skies, location on the beach, and lens choices leave endless opportunities for a photographer. I will continue chasing the light and enjoying the beauty that Mother Nature graces us with in West Michigan.