366 Days of Beauty in the Year 2020 by Brad Reed and Rachel Gaudette

Rachel had the kids and me out to her house for dinner tonight with her and her kids. While there, Rachel’s daughter Kasey was excited to show us some of the new kittens that were born below their porch.

Nikon D810. F22.0 at 1/160, ISO 3200. 60-600mm lens at 240mm. May 27, 2020 at 8:50pm.

My neighbor two doors down, Tom Nelson, has this beautiful tree blooming in his front yard. I pulled my truck into the mouth of my driveway, got out, and made this image with my telephoto lens. The light rain and diffused light really added to the atmosphere of this image. Greens, reds, and pinks always pop more in the rain.

Kasey is a forever lover of all God’s creatures. Including this frog….or these frogs?? You decide!

After making this image, I had to text Rachel and ask her what kind of flower this was in my side yard. She told me it was a bleeding heart and that those were some of her mom’s favorites.

We adventured around the pond today. There are a couple new calves that the kids wanted to check out. Since we were close to the pond, we decided we should check for frogs and turtles. The dragon flies were very busy today!

Pam Sprague, who is Sean’s manager at his hotel in Silver Lake, showed me these jack-in-the-pulpit flowers that grow every year in the woods behind the hotel. Telephoto macro lenses are so useful for photographing flowers. They allow you to get close and show detail, but they also help compress a scene and make the background less busy.

The kids and I love having snowball fights in springtime, courtesy of these snowball bushes! I will often fuel my mom with blossoms so she can ambush the kids from the porch.

We always try to help as many turtles travel safely across the roads as we can. After we helped this little guy, I captured him in the safety of the grass.

Vertical God beams that are this distinct are a rare sight along the Lake Michigan shoreline. I can’t get out of my truck fast enough! Luckily, my gear is organized and I was able to get set up and capture this image at the first curve before the God beams went away.

My backyard is full of wildflowers. The kids and I love exploring each and every one. Today, these vetch plants stood out to me.

I was driving in my old neighborhood on Lewis Street near Lakeview School when I spotted these unique flowers. With my macro lens, I was able to isolate the background and quickly made this image.

In a small ravine on our property, dame’s rocket grows brilliantly. They can be considered invasive, but for me, they are stunning.

This evening after work, I took Julia and Ethan pike fishing near the dam at the Ludington State Park. On Julia’s second cast, she hooked into this young pike. Using my iPhone, I made this image as the sun was setting below the tree line.

I surprised the kids with a firepit for the backyard this weekend. We lit it and to our surprise, it showed its love for us with a heart!

My front yard has several large bushes that are near the house. I was excited to see that many beautiful bright pink and purple azaleas bloomed this spring.

So many wishes have been made over the years. As I blew these dandelion seeds into the wind after making this photo, another wish was made.

While enjoying a family bonfire in my backyard, I looked up at the trees above my head and noticed how nice the light looked on the leaves and trunks of the trees. In a few short minutes I had my picture of the day.

I could see the makings of a shelf cloud over Lake Michigan, so I headed to the lakeshore from work. As I was making several images of the small cloud, I could see a paddle boarder coming my way. I thought he was very brave! I waited until he was in front of me and had the paddle in a position I wanted. Thanks to social media, later I was able to find out who he was and give him a free print!

I love living so close to Cartier Park now. The kids and I can walk there pretty quickly from home. Tonight, we walked there together and we spent time enjoying the beauty of the dame’s rocket flowers.