Lake Michigan is accustomed to dealing with wintery conditions, but this week’s snow storm unveiled something unusual. As the latest chill swept over the Midwest, beautiful ice sculptures began to form on lighthouses along the eastern shores of the Great Lake.
The footage was taken by the drone company, Timeless Aerial Photography.
Drone pilot, Brandon Clair, has studied these lighthouses as a subject of his photography for some time. “I have been filming the lighthouses and shoreline for years after I started my business. Every year is a little different. The lighthouse is iced over for about two weeks. Now we are getting warmer temperatures, everything’s melting,” he shared with Outdoors.com.
St. Joseph Lighthouses
Located along the North Pier, the St. Joseph North Inner and the St. Joseph North Outer Lighthouses are separated by a catwalk. They were originally built in 1907 and restored in 2013. The Inner Lighthouse, the closer of the two to the shore, is open for tours in the summer.
The second largest lake in the United States, Lake Michigan is able to generate its own weather patterns. In an average winter, approximately half the lake will freeze over, but it never entirely freezes. ‘Ice pancakes’ by the shore are common sights to see during subzero temperatures.
Aerial 4K footage of Michigan’s St. Joseph Lighthouses, Grand Haven and South Haven, were produced by the company and shared across their social media channels. The high quality footage has been admired by thousands of people online. “The drone I used was a DJI Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom,” shared drone pilot, Brandon Clair.
Timeless Aerial Photography are based in northwest Indiana. Their footage from this week also includes Michigan City, Indiana, who experienced 35 inches (89 cm) of snow.
The company shares lots of footage of incredible lighthouses in different conditions, including waves of 18 feet (5.4 m) crashing into them, on their YouTube channel. They also film ice racing, motorbiking and sporting events.