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October Magic

Ludington State Park

Ludington State Park

As I stood in one spot on the edge of Lincoln Lake for over 40 minutes, the sky produced three dramatic color changes. The first display was bright pink with the rising sun. It quickly changed to ruddy-orange and gradually finished with blue-purple. This was my only photograph of that morning that showed the large rays of light shooting toward the heavens.

365 Week 13

August looked more like October when I crested a dune to find this view of the Bass Lake dam, the outlet, and Lake Michigan. Like so many small outlets along the Lake Michigan shoreline, the Bass Lake Outlet follows the path of least resistance to the big lake. That path shifts with changing winds and seas.

October 28 2012

Few places on Earth offer as grand a view of the sky as the east shore of Lake Michigan. Hikers on the Ludington South Breakwater provide a sense of scale to show the size of storm front clouds arriving in Michigan from Wisconsin.

My seventh grade science teacher, Diana Kuras, stopped me in the road today and told me about a giant sunbow over Lake Michigan. I was heading out to Summit Township at the time for a Super Bowl party at our friends Paul and Lisa Cooper's new house. It was the largest, most distinct sunbow I had ever witnessed. F22.0 at 1/50, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 20 mm

Underwater Lincoln River

Last night after I got done watching a movie at the theater, I drove out to the First Curve on M116 at the Ludington State Park to see if the Northern Lights were out. I knew they had been out the night before, but the clouds were so thick in our area, you couldn't get a good photo of them. The application, Aurora Forecast, that I use on my iPhone, was measuring a level 5 on the KP scale. Usually at a level 5, you can see a tiny bit of color with a trained eye and some of the white pillars if they are out, but your camera will pick up the color much better. Standing in the parking lot of the First Curve, I could see the white pillars, but no color. It took me a few minutes to get my boots, warm clothes, headlamp, and hat on and to get my camera pre-set at the truck. I hustled up the small dune to the north of where I parked with my camera and tripod and this was the first exposure I made. It turned out to be the best shot of the night because the light show was short lived. The red light in the foreground is from a car's headlights as it was approaching from behind me at the very end of the exposure. I was fired up to say the least.

After leaving a Valentine

Summer Rush

Summer Rush - cropped vertical

Bass Lake Outlet changes its course almost daily it seems. Every time I show up to photograph it, I am shocked at how different it looks. Today, it was full of drama. Before I made this image, I previsualized it as a black-and-white.

A bayou along the Seven Islands trail at Ludington State Park turns as blue as the sky on a September evening. The Seven Islands Trail is a treasure trove of beautiful settings. Magic light transforms the view into an extraordinary one.

the Grounds at Legends Deer Ranch

Thoughts of a refreshing Lake Michigan swim surface while watching waves splash amidst some rocks on a late September morning. A reality check tells me the water temperature is probably barely above 50 degrees Farenheit. I decide to stick with making a picture of the fresh water.

Weekend Workshop

Triangles of snow-covered ice line a creek near the corner of Meyers and Conrad Road. I am en route to West Shore Community College to teach photography. I am cutting it close on time but I stop to make this picture. I rest easier knowing that I always tell my students the only valid excuse for being late for class is stopping to make a good picture. F7.1 at 1/200, ISO 800, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm