First Light on the Dune

A winter sunrise washes over one of the towering sand dunes along the Grand Haven shoreline, where warm, low-angle light briefly ignites the trees clinging to its slope. The contrast between the glowing hillside, the cool blue shadows of snow and sky, and the calm water below captures a fleeting balance between warmth and cold, motion and stillness.

Formed over thousands of years by wind and water along Lake Michigan, these dunes are both sculpted and reshaped season after season. Photographed at the precise moment when the rising sun breaks beneath a heavy cloud deck, the scene emphasizes the quiet drama of Michigan’s coastal landscape - a reminder that even in winter, the dunes remain alive with subtle change and enduring presence.