Windows 10 Screenshot Adventures

Talk about being an armchair adventurer ... as I’m working on my laptop computer, the Windows 10 screen shots that come up are an array of extreme visual travel adventures that make me want to pack up and go. But where are they located?

Recently it was the city of Ronda in Spain, or a diving bell in Zingst, Germany (which we shared on the Artsology blog), and today it's this crazy, frozen lighthouse. It's a pretty dramatic shot, with the ice-covered bridge leading to a lighthouse that seems to be sitting on the edge of a frozen arctic tundra. The mind quickly assumes someplace like Antarctica, Alaska, or somewhere along the northern fringes of Canada. But in fact it's the St. Joseph Pier Lighthouse in St. Joseph, Michigan, which isn't as far north as one might think: it's almost directly east across Lake Michigan from Chicago

St. Jospeh Pier lighthouse in Michigan

As far as the lighthouse, it's at the end of a 1,000-foot pier, and the skeletal structure of this pier lends itself to the formation of these draping icicles in the coldest part of winter. But of course Michigan isn't this cold year 'round, so there's plenty of summer beauty to be seen here as well, as you can see in the less-dramatic pictures below.

I think it's interesting from a compositional standpoint how the photographers that Windows 10 selects for these screenshots find the most-dramatic angle ... as you can see by the images above, when seen straight-on, it looks like a typical bridge leading out to a lighthouse; but when you're under it, and it's looming over you as it is in the picture at the top of the page, it suddenly becomes more-monumental. You can see a similar technique with the choice of angle in this shot of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, in Basque Country, Spain - which happens to be another Windows 10 screenshot - where the photographer makes the bridge look monumental. I think I'd like to try out some of these photographic tricks and techniques myself, as they make for a great shot.