Unknown surfer, Lake Michigan, Grand Haven, Michigan, 2018
Portfolio: When Swell Freezes Over
Winter brings the best waves to the Great Lakes—along with snow, ice, winds, below-zero temps, and seriously passionate surfers
Fred Mitchell’s first trip to shoot winter surfing in the Great Lakes didn’t begin auspiciously. His guide, whom he met through friends and networking, took him out on the ice of Lake Superior in search of waves. They walked and walked and never did make it to open water. On the return, climbing up a bank, he attempted to follow in the guy’s tracks but misstepped and sank into the snow.
“I hand him the camera, then he turns to help me and I’ve been wiggling to try to get myself up,” he said. “There’s a bush, but it’s really the top of a tree. I’m sinking and now up to my chin. Finally, he gets a stick and helps me out.”
That was the first of his “big spills.” On another occasion, he was shooting with a surfer named Jamie and her English springer spaniel puppy,
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