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

Good friends of ours have a cottage on Hamlin Lake. They graciously invited us out for the evening. I was on the lookout for photos driving there when we passed this barn and field on North Stiles Road. I loved the green in amongst the yellow, leading right to the barn.

The kids and I went on a hike with Carole and Jim Smith today out near their cottage on Hamlin Lake. We hiked to one of Carole’s favorite trees in the Manistee National Forest. Seeing this tree was love at first sight for me. I knew I had found my photo of the day!

My son, Joshua, spotted this toad in a hole in a tree at the farm. I grabbed my gear and carefully set my camera settings. Then it was a waiting game for it to pop back out.

Julia has done so well on her first year of the high school golf team. She has gotten to play in several varsity matches and is getting better by the day. Tonight, when I went to pick her up from practice, I could see her on the 18th hole. I parked the truck and grabbed my gear and made this image of her as she hit a beautiful iron shot.

These large mushrooms are always fun to spot in the summer. The kids found this one down our long lane at the farm.

I took a lunchtime break at the lakeshore. The seagulls were very active!

Rachel’s daughter, Kasey, is on the middle school cross country team at Mason County Eastern in Custer. We were watching one of her home meets when I noticed these sweet peas in a mix of mustard grass. Trying to not crush any of the flowers or mustard grass, I got close to the prettiest one I could find. With my macro lens, I knew I could make the busy background look soft and less chaotic.

It was a calm night – but the clouds were moving across the sky. I took a longer exposure showing the movement against the silhouetted trees.

I hope all of these different varieties of flowers continue to grow in my yard year after year because I do not have a green thumb and I am not great at yard work. I rarely know the names of the flowers until I download my photographs of them and ask Rachel or Betsy what they are.

“The Triple Trees” were looking grand this summer morning! Before long, these trees will be full of color.

I love seeing the fog dance over the water during a sunrise. This morning did not disappoint as I photographed the sunrise from M-116 over Lincoln Lake. We often try to find triangles for the bases of our images. It helps lead the viewer’s eyes into the photograph.

It is starting to feel like fall! I am always intrigued what makes one particular tree turn (or partially turn) before the others.

As usual, I hit my drive near the trees on the left side of hole 4 at Golden Sands Golf Course near Silver Lake. While walking to my ball, we found a tiny baby mouse sitting on a leaf. I grabbed my iPhone and got down on my stomach to capture this image.

I am very proud of Kasey and her first cross country season. She is running in Evart today at SpringHill Camp. Due to COVID-19, they split the large invitational up into three groups of teams to keep the athlete and spectator numbers low.

I had a busy day today and wasn’t able to make an image during the daylight. Luckily for me, once it got dark, the moon was a perfect crescent, and the sky was crystal clear. Standing in the middle of Washington Avenue in front of my house, I shot this image with my camera on a tripod.

Today we hosted a birthday dinner for Brad, at his house. We had such a good time that I forgot I hadn’t made my photo for the day! David Benjamin had a jar of corn that he wanted to grind into corn meal. He helped me set it next to a frame sample to create a mirrored reflection.

A Pure Ludington moment of two tourists enjoying a wonderful sunset off Stearns Beach. I love meeting new people, especially when they love Ludington as much as I do!

Simplicity.

Rachel and I went for a drive looking for photographs. We headed down North Lakeshore Drive along Hamlin Lake. Between the Middle and North Bayous, we found this colorful tree. I lay on my back and used my external flash to light up the underside of the tree to pop the colors.

Brad and I took a drive around Ludington this afternoon. He made an image of a tree with fall color near Hamlin Lake, and then we ended up on his aunt and uncle’s farm on the Pere Marquette River. I positioned myself to capture the shadows in the water as my leading line into the photograph in the lower left side of the frame and placed the sunburst in the tree in the upper right.