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Michigan views like this one on the Pere Marquette River make me feel unbelievably fortunate to be a guest in nature's home. As we float past these deer, they pause long enough to decide whether we are forest friends or foes. Photographing from a moving boat is like watching a moving picture. I study the constantly changing relationship between the deer and the forest, clicking the shutter to "stop the movie" and make still-shots only at what I see as optimum moments. Anticipating, seeing, and acting quickly are the keys to voyage photography. F2.8 at 1/640, ISO 1600, 80-200mm lens at 155mm

This fawn was born near my home recently and I have been trying to get a good picture of it for days. Now here it is, right in front of me on the Buttersville peninsula in a beautiful quality of light with a nice wooded background. I savor the view and make the picture. F2.8 at 1/60, ISO 800, 80-200 mm lens at 138 mm

When I finished playing soccer tonight at the fields along Bryant Road, I noticed two deer in the field of flowers across the street. Not wasting time to take my cleats or shin guards off, I snuck across the street and made this photograph. It was totally worth being sighted by innocent passers-by who must have thought I looked very strange. F5.6 at 1/400, ISO 1000, 600 mm lens with 1.4 extender at 850 mm

I can’t wait to see how big this buck in my backyard gets in the next few months. It always amazes me how close the deer in my yard allow me to get to them.

A neighborhood deer grazes near our home on the Buttersville peninsula south of Ludington. Her summer coat looks splendid in the evening light. F2.8 at 1/160, ISO 200, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm

My camera catches a fawn in the morning light. I make the shot and move on so that it can continue to browse in peace with its mother along the west shore of Pere Marquette Lake. F2.8 at 1/400, ISO 800, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm

I was awestruck with the beauty of this fawn and its surroundings in my backyard this morning. My dad is always teaching our workshop students to build “layered cake” photographs with distinct foregrounds, middle grounds, and backgrounds. This might be my best fawn “layered cake” photograph.

I must be dreaming. A massive buck, its antlers in velvet, pauses in the perfect spot on a Ludington Pumped Storage Plant hillside covered with sweet pea. This looks too good to be true, especially when an old family friend, Dr. John Ramsey, who practiced medicine in Ludington many years ago, sounds out a doe bleat and the deer turns to look our way. F4.0 at 1/400, ISO 800, 500 mm lens at 500 mm

A young buck stands at attention above the railroad tracks near the Manistee Industrial Park. When I first spotted him and his brother, they were standing right on the train tracks. Lucky for me, they moved onto the flower-covered ridge and I was able to use the tall grasses as my foreground element. F2.8 at 1/320, ISO 400, 70-200mm lens at 200mm

Memorial Tree Park in Pere Marquette Township is a great place for a family picnic or an evening hike. Tonight, Betsy and I took the kids to Memorial Tree Park and we came upon this family of deer. I loved how the fawn thought the large tree stump hid it from me. I was able to walk within 15 feet of these deer with my wide-angle lens. F2.8 at 1/500, ISO 1000, 18-50 mm lens at 50 mm

It always amazes me how many big bucks I see around town in Ludington. They know they are safe, I guess! I saw this big guy on my way to Brad’s this evening in his neighborhood.

I love making story-telling images with my camera. I felt like this scene in my front yard tonight told the story of growing older, bigger, and stronger. I purposely put that large tree in the very center of the image to help cut the image in half and help tell the story better.

What should appear inside the window of an old house but two fawns that look far less surprised than I. I have stopped at the old dwelling while looking at flowers in the yard of the building I thought to be vacant. I am laughing out loud as I make this image of the new tenants. F5 at 1/800, ISO 800, 300mm lens at 300mm

One of my greatest pleasures in outdoor photography in Michigan is watching the world come to life throughout the spring. Two days before the end of spring a fast-growing fawn hides in grasses that have sprung to life in the Michigan outdoors. F6.3 at 1/100, ISO 800, 300mm lens at 300mm

A doe stood under one of our flowering bushes this afternoon in our backyard when I came home to eat lunch. She just stood quietly eating and looked at me while I walked close to her to make this image.

Growing up around the farm, we were fortunate for the amount of wildlife we would see on a daily basis. Now my kids get to enjoy the wildlife. We have watched this fawn and her twin all summer.

Legends Ranch is my happy place. While walking to one of the blinds tonight to photograph some of the giant whitetail bucks, I came face to face with this gorgeous typical. Without using an actual deer call, I grunted at him and got him to come even closer to me.

As this fawn's first year on earth continues to evolve, it now gets to experience balmy summer evenings, luscious grasses and other tasty foods. Life in West Michigan appears to be treating this healthy-looking deer kindly. I hope it continues to eat well while the warm weather food supply is abundant. F2.8 at 1/250, ISO 1600, 300mm lens at 300mm

I am hunting this evening for the two big bucks I photographed in July at the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant when their antlers were in velvet. I think these big guys might be the same ones. F8.0 at 1/15, ISO 1250, 500 mm lens with 2X extender at 1000 mm

Rachel and I and several other hunters were enjoying a five-course meal today at Legends Ranch when this guy came walking by the lodge. I photographed him with my iPhone through the window as the buck walked by in the rain.