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Night Crossing - Panoramic

The sky looked ominously beautiful over Ludington Harbor Wednesday evening as a storm front swept past. The front of a miles-long shelf cloud dipped down to the water just as the northbound cloud formation was passing by the Ludington pierheads at 9:02 pm.

Out of the Fog

Seaward

The Place to Be

The Place to Be - Panoramic

Watching from our “Crow’s Nest” front porch vantage on the Ludington waterfront, I could see a major thunderstorm approaching from the southwest. If it continued on its northeast course, the lightning would soon be upon us and in line with the carferry Badger, moored dockside in its home port. All I had to do was set up the tripod and camera, adjust the settings, compose the picture, wait for the lightning to show up, and have the shutter tripped at just the right moment. Experience and lengthy exposures of at least 10 seconds increased my odds. I love playing the lightning photography game. Bingo!

The sky is filled with color this morning so I have hustled to get to the waterfront at Crosswinds to make a photograph of the harbor and sky. Steam from the co-generation plant looks from this vantage point like it is coming from the carferry Badger's stack. Ducks provide another added ingredient to the picture. Looks good. F16.0 at 1/13, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 175 mm

All I could think about as I was taking this image in way-below-zero weather was how well it illustrated the impact on Ludington of the Polar Vortex. Just about everything was closed for a couple days as January roared to a close. This historic commercial fishing building at the Lake Michigan carferry docks looked like it was in Siberia.

Nothing says Ludington better than the carferry Badger and Ludington lighthouse. On this July evening the Lake Michigan Carferry passes the Ludington North Breakwater Light en route to its dock after ferrying passengers and vehicles from Wisconsin.

Nothing says Ludington better than the carferry Badger and Ludington lighthouse. On this July evening the Lake Michigan Carferry passes the Ludington North Breakwater Light en route to its dock after ferrying passengers and vehicles from Wisconsin. Nikon D800. F10 at 1/500, ISO 200. 14-24mm lens at 14mm. On a tripod without a flash. July 21, 2016 at 5:24pm.

Crisp, haze-free air, brilliant light, billowy clouds - all the ingredients that made for a good day for photography - were present on this fine October morning. Throw in the Ludington North Breakwater, lighthouse, and the carferry Badger, and it gets even better. The final ingredient - a location from which to take the photo - brings the mixture together to make a picture better than the sum of its parts.

While sitting in my truck in the rain, I envisioned this photograph. I quickly drove a few miles to the parking lot next to the carferry Spartan and drove back and forth with my head out my truck window looking at the puddles. I was certain if I found the correct spot, I could get both the Spartan and its reflection in the same photograph. F16.0 at 1/5, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 18 mm

The Badger looked like a ghost ship this afternoon in the fog. Our biggest tip with shooting photographs in the fog is to make sure to shoot at least a stop and a half, if not two stops, to the plus side of your meter. If you shoot fog photos on any auto mode, your photo will be underexposed.

The "Baby Badger" stops at Waterfront Park to allow the children aboard its train of toy boats to watch the real Badger dock. This celebration of the Badger's start of the sailing season showcases three great things about Ludington

The Badger’s maiden voyage each year is a really big deal in Ludington. For me it feels like the official kick-off of summer. The Badger had smooth sailing today to start its sailing season.

In my rush to capture this intense rainbow and magic light over the Badger tonight, I almost fell off the rocks at the Ludington Municipal Marina and into Pere Marquette Lake. My lens cap did end up in the lake, but luckily it was shallow water, and I was able to retrieve it after making this image.

For years I have tried to photograph the carferry Badger from underneath this tree at the end of Ferry Street, but have always come away disappointed because the Badger looked too small or I put too much of the tree in the photograph. Tonight however, I decided to wait longer and let the Badger get a lot closer to the camera. The photo finally worked! F8.0 at 1/30, ISO 640, 18-50 mm lens at 18 mm

I never get tired of photographing the Badger as she makes her way in or out of port. The carferry may be converting from a coal-fired steam system to a diesel-powered system soon. I hope for my sake as a photographer and for the sake of all the Ludington area that the Badger continues to set sail on Lake Michigan for another 50 years! F9.0 at 1/60, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 18 mm