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While driving back home today from Ben and Sam’s wedding in St. Louis, Rachel, my Uncle Rod, my cousins Erika and Travis, and I decided to stop at The Cross at the Crossroads in Effingham, Illinois. I wanted to try and make my image of the day. I am so glad we stopped. The clouds and light were perfect today and the 198-foot-tall cross appeared to be glowing. It is one of the tallest crosses in the world and is truly impressive.

My plan was to shoot the Comet NEOWISE in Ludington tonight. I drove out through M-116 but that was packed with cars. I wasn’t in the mood to be around people, so I decided to shoot the farm. I got back here and set up just in time to create this time lapse above a couple of our barns.

The curves, angles and play of light and shadow on a sculpture outside the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg, Illinois, attracts me to make a picture out of a portion of the metal artwork. It is not a picture I expected to find but I know it is important to be alert for the unexpected photograph, the fresh view. F8.0 at 1/300, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 175 mm

While my dad and I were giving our free annual photo talk tonight at Big Sable Point Lighthouse at the Ludington State Park, I moved this large piece of driftwood into the parking lot and used it as a teaching tool for the students. My dad and I told them to get twice as close and isolate the interesting parts of different subjects and look for s-curves, repetitive patterns, dynamic angles, and great light. My teaching moment turned into one of my favorite photographs of the entire day for Week 23 of "Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed." F22 at 0.5, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens at 46mm

The Lake Michigan house we are renting this week in Manistee is amazing! The dinner table has a runner made of beautiful lake stones. As the evening sun poured in the large picture windows, I noticed the light hitting the tops of the stones. I grabbed my camera and my macro lens in order to capture the moment. F2.8 at 1/200, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 50 mm

Tonight, we took the Lake FX film crew by boat out to the Hamlin Lake Sand Dunes to shoot some footage on the documentary we are making about my dad and his 50 years of photographing Michigan. It was another glorious night with warm shadows and great light.

We had a college reunion tonight with my two roommates from Calvin and our families. It was so fun watching the kids all playing together and enjoying the animals and slip-n-slide at Jonathan and Shannon Ray’s house south of Ludington in Riverton Township.

Reflections of an umbrella on a dock, a dock box, and man walking on a dock look to my eye at this moment like a man sailing a tiny sailboat. The umbrella reflections caught my eye at Harbor View Marina in Ludington. The more I study the reflections as people walk by, the more I see the potential for a fresher view; I love this one. F4.0 at 1/400, ISO 640, 500 mm lens at 500 mm

Today the weather was less than desirable. It was rainy, windy, muggy, and depressing. However, that was perfect lighting for shooting close-up photographs of spider webs. I shot this photo in my front yard. The web was located on some unused landscaping pavers that were leaning up against my house. F6.3 at 1/100, ISO 800, 18-50 mm lens at 50 mm

This morning I met my dad for breakfast at Big Boy in Ludington. My dad was late because he found a picture to take on the way. I got bored and grabbed my camera and walked around the parking lot looking for a photo of my own. In a few short minutes, I found an S-curve in the pavement that was accentuated by the rainwater. F18.0 at 0.6, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 32 mm

It is a spectacular summer afternoon to be at Epworth Heights. Brian and Leah Roche of Columbus, Ohio walk along the North Beach sidewalk en route to meet some friends on the beach. F8.0 at 1/320, ISO 100, 12-24 mm lens at 16 mm

Red-hot lava appears to be flowing through the parking lot of the Ludington Meijer store during a deluge of rain. Actually, the Meijer sign is being reflected in the water flowing across the asphalt. I set up the tripod under cover of the raised rear hatch of my Suburban but my camera and I are still getting moderately wet while composing this image. F2.8 at 1/10, ISO 400, 80-200 mm lens at 92 mm

My wife Debbie and I have arrived in Charlevoix just in time to catch the afterglow light along the rocky Lake Michigan shoreline at Fisherman's Island State Park. These two rocks quickly stand out to me because of their size, shape, texture and the way the light and shadow define them. F16.0 at 13.0, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 80 mm

Tonight was our last 20/20 Vision Workshop of the summer. The light was not very good so we all had to look harder and deeper for our photographs. The waves in the channel were a little bigger than usual and were making some interesting pattern images along the shore. F4.0 at 1/50, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 50 mm

While taking a shower tonight, I noticed tiny water droplets on our new shower curtain. About an hour later, I came back with my camera and tripod and looked for some cool patterns and then made this photograph. F9.0 at 5.0, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 44 mm

Waves, clouds and trees turning color give Epworth Heights an autumn look. It is a quieter but beautiful time of year at the historic resort. North Point Cottage stands out on the Lake Michigan shoreline just south of the Lincoln River outlet. F13.0 at 1/500, ISO 400, 80-200 mm lens at 105 mm

Today, while exploring the dam at the Bass Lake Outlet with an underwater housing for my camera, I decided to try shooting from under the water straight up towards the sky. The resulting photograph turned out a lot cooler than I thought it would. I love trying new things with my camera. F13 at 1/2000, ISO 400, 10-17mm lens at 10mm

October 16, 2010” We teach our photography workshop students to look for saturated fall colors in the reflections of leaves on the water. I took my own advice on a pond along Pere Marquette Highway.

A new Ford Mustang Cobra GT 500 was parked behind the gallery this morning. I couldn't resist photographing the iconic snake emblem and its reflection on the front grill of my dream car. F10.0 at 1/40, ISO 1250, 18-50 mm lens at 35 mm

Several months ago I spotted red light from the Shop-N-Save sign being cast subtly on a dry manhole cover in front of the Ludington supermarket. I pre-visualized then how the manhole cover would look when wet. I love a rainy night! Little did I know that Brad would shoot a photo later in the night near here. F11.0 at 15.0, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm