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Each fall I look forward to trying to be at my favorite Michigan Lower Peninsula fall color vista during peak color. My wife, Debbie, and I timed it well when we chose the morning of October 12 to make our 2020 visit to the Buckley Rollway. I love the birds-eye, above-the-treetops view from the lookout of the forest land and winding Manistee River.

Since the 1930s, the Beach House at Ludington State Park has served many functions. My favorite memories of the Beach House are the massive family reunions my mom's family would have there when I was young. While the adults were busy catching up on the past year's events, we kids were busy exploring the mysterious castle on the beach.

When the quality of light is this extraordinary at Big Sable Point Lighthouse, I have come to realize how breathtaking and beautiful everything looks compared to more ordinary days. I still like the more ordinary days, but I crave mornings like this one!

One of my favorite places to take a "Sunday Drive" any day of the week in autumn is the wooded area of the 3,450-acre Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness between Ludington and Manistee. Today I find the seasonal transition spectacular.

PM River and Conrad Road

Tuesdays With Todd and Brad Reed

My high school math teacher, Mr. Bud, told his students many funny stories of his days working as a park ranger at the Ludington State Park. Mr. Bud also taught us to KISS: Keep It Simple, Silly! I often try to apply KISS to my photographic compositions. Simple compositions can become great art.

Charlevoix Magic

The mighty small but mighty powerful tugboat Wyoming is dwarfed by the stern of the Great Lakes ship Calumet as the tugboat does its part to control the stern of the large ore carrier. F4.5 at 1/3200, ISO 800, 300mm lens at 300mm

Ludington Lighthouse During Workshop

During an early morning workshop shoot, my dad and I took 15 students to Little Sable Point Lighthouse. We love being at the lighthouse as the sun rises above the huge wooded sand dunes to the east. The dunes keep the sun from hitting the lighthouse directly for almost thirty minutes after sunrise. Once the sunlight finally arrives, it can be very dramatic. As Galen Rowell would preach, shoot with your camera from the shadows into the light.

The tugboat Wyoming is all business. From its reinforced iron hull to its giant cleats and array of towing lights, it is obvious this little ship is built to work. As a longtime Great Lakes sailor, I love how "squared away" the Great Lakes Towing Company vessel looks. F4 at 1/2000, ISO 800, 300mm lens at 300mm

Lighthouses always attract my attention but today I am more attracted to these birch trees on the Manistee waterfront. Brad and I often like to make lighthouses the secondary subject of our Michigan lighthouse photographs. F8 at 1/200, ISO 100, 80-200mm lens at 112mm

Lake Michigan waves colored with sunset afterglow wash ashore near the Second Curve at Ludington State Park, creating ever-changing watercolor artwork. Just as quickly as one of these "wave paintings" appears, it starts to disappear as the wave energy is spent and gravity carries the water back lake-ward. Seeing and capturing these interesting but fleeting patterns of light and shadow is challenging and a good exercise in seeing. Nature does the painting; the photographer's role is to watch, recognize a picture and shoot before the "painting" erases itself.

Manistee harbor has been a busy shipping, fishing and industrial port since the mid-1800s. This morning a lone recreational fishing boat trolls past the handsomely restored carferry SS City of Milwaukee on Manistee Lake. F22 at 1/10, ISO 400, 80-200mm lens at 100mm

Ludington Lighthouse During Workshop