Fish

I don't know who was more determined, the fish trying to jump up the dam on the Betsie River, or me trying to capture a flying fish with my camera. After a 30 minute battle, I finally got my photo. Unfortunately for the fish, it never made it high enough to get over the dam.

Benzie Dam

This scene reminds me of the one-on-one battle between man and fish Ernest Hemingway wrote about in The Old Man and the Sea. Serious fishermen are like serious photographers; they dream day and night of being there to experience those exhilarating, unforgettable moments they can't imagine living without. For some it goes beyond being a pastime; it is an important part of their being.

We had been trying unsuccessfully all morning to make strong still and video imagery of an eagle while shooting in 2007 for an upcoming book, Ludington State Park: Queen of the North. Some days are a bust; this started out being one of those. The eagles were not cooperating, and we had gotten wet and cold bouncing around choppy Hamlin Lake. In the Coast Guard, I learned that if Plan A does not work, always have a Plan B already in mind. So, despite being disappointed, cold and hungry, we turned our attention to photographing salmon making their annual return to the Sable River from Lake Michigan. It was the last week of October, and the fall color reflecting off the wind-rippled surface of the water made this salmon appear to be under stained glass. It was not the image I had set out to make, but it turned out to be one of my favorite images from a year of intensely photographing Ludington State Park. In years past I had made lesser photographs of salmon in the same spot, just under water on a spawning bed with fall color reflected on the surface. But on this day, Mother Nature blessed me with an extraordinary added ingredient. A brisk west wind made all the difference, agitating the surface of the water just enough to create a shower glass effect on the river. This faceted surface reflected various colors in various directions, turning my photograph into abstract art. I don’t like setting up an image. I love “found” pictures that are real-time moments in the Michigan outdoors. I am especially proud of this image because, while many people surmise it is not “real” and is somehow an electronic after-the-fact manipulation, it is as real, as purely Michigan at its genuine best as I have ever made. I love a lot of abstract art, but I don’t find myself drawn to setting out to make a lot of abstract images. But I do know a good abstract photo moment when I see one.

A salmon leaps halfway up a wall of cascading water at the Hamlin Dam. Thousands of salmon return to the Sable River each fall to spawn and to die. I love watching the powerful fish try in vain to leap to the top of the dam, which holds back the fish that work their way upstream on one side and holds back the waters of Hamlin Lake on the other.

One of the best places in Michigan for watching salmon and steelhead jump close enough to touch them is Homestead Dam just east of Benzonia.

Spawning Salmon

We had been trying unsuccessfully all morning to make strong still and video imagery of an eagle while shooting in 2007 for an upcoming book, Ludington State Park: Queen of the North. Some days are a bust; this started out being one of those. The eagles were not cooperating, and we had gotten wet and cold bouncing around choppy Hamlin Lake. In the Coast Guard, I learned that if Plan A does not work, always have a Plan B already in mind. So, despite being disappointed, cold and hungry, we turned our attention to photographing salmon making their annual return to the Sable River from Lake Michigan. It was the last week of October, and the fall color reflecting off the wind-rippled surface of the water made this salmon appear to be under stained glass. It was not the image I had set out to make, but it turned out to be one of my favorite images from a year of intensely photographing Ludington State Park. In years past I had made lesser photographs of salmon in the same spot, just under water on a spawning bed with fall color reflected on the surface. But on this day, Mother Nature blessed me with an extraordinary added ingredient. A brisk west wind made all the difference, agitating the surface of the water just enough to create a shower glass effect on the river. This faceted surface reflected various colors in various directions, turning my photograph into abstract art. I don’t like setting up an image. I love “found” pictures that are real-time moments in the Michigan outdoors. I am especially proud of this image because, while many people surmise it is not “real” and is somehow an electronic after-the-fact manipulation, it is as real, as purely Michigan at its genuine best as I have ever made. I love a lot of abstract art, but I don’t find myself drawn to setting out to make a lot of abstract images. But I do know a good abstract photo moment when I see one.

Wednesday

A Michigan steelhead leaps high in an attempt to get over a short dam on the Betsie River near Benzonia. The Betsie is among the many Michigan rivers that attract fishermen from across the country.

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.

The fishing was a bit slow on the river tonight for everyone. One of the guides did land this little rainbow trout smolt. I had him hold onto it long enough for me to make this photograph. I am looking forward to when I get a picture of a mature rainbow trout caught in the fly-only zone of the Pere Marquette River near Baldwin, Michigan. F2.8 at 1/640, ISO 800, 70-200mm lens at 160mm

My Grandpa and Grandma Reed had a fishpond built in their backyard and transplanted their goldfish from their house on the Pere Marquette River in Walhalla to their new pond at their house in Ludington. Now my brother and his family live in that house and they have become the keepers of Grandma’s fish. With our underwater housing, I got in the pond and made this image in honor of our grandma.

I have fished for bluegill on Hamlin Lake since before I could walk, but I have never tried to photograph one. Today my cousin Logan Sanzeri and I went on a photographic hunt for bluegill on Indian Pete Bayou. Within a few minutes, this beautiful fish swam right up to my underwater camera and posed for this photograph. F5 at 1/1250, ISO 400, 10-17mm lens at 10mm

I love to eat perch, especially at Scotty's restaurant in Ludington. Today was the first time I have tried to photograph a perch. It proved to be more difficult than photographing a bluegill, but the hunt was equally thrilling. F4.5 at 1/640, ISO 400, 10-17mm lens at 10mm

Bethany Rodenbeck holds up a beautiful Lake Michigan steelhead she caught this morning off the shores of Ludington. If you haven't experienced fishing for salmon and steelhead on Lake Michigan you are missing out on a lot of fun. Charter fishing is a multi-billion dollar industry every year in the Great Lakes region and it is worth every penny. F8 at 1/2000, ISO 1600, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

David Lundin, originally from Sweden, holds up the first Lake Michigan salmon he has ever landed. He and his father-in-law, Roger Anderson, caught this 21-pound whopper while fishing on the charter boat Willie Wonka this morning off the shores of Ludington. F8 at 1/400, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

I don't know anyone who catches more fish on the Pere Marquette River than Ralph Anderson. After watching Ralph land a steelhead with help from son-in-law Craig Ritzema, the diehard fisherman holds up a string of the coveted trout. F4.0 at 1/640, ISO 1600, 300 mm lens at 300 mm