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Mason's Jam

Northern Lights

One day, while living on Hamlin Lake, I was looking for fall color pictures when I spotted this young boy on a neighboring dock. I could see the finished picture in my mind, and everything seemed to balance. I liked the setting and composition, but it was the boy who made the picture come together.

Ludington State Park

My dad and I study a lot of different photographers and their work. Jim Brandenburg is a photographer I admire. Jim's work has a unique "look and feel" that inspires me. While I was making this photograph on the Sable River, it seemed to me the image had a Brandenburg feel. The beauty of art is that the final image has a mix of my style as well as Jim's.

There is something about empty chairs on Lake Michigan waterfront that makes people want to be in them. These chairs, positioned at Pentwater Yacht Club, provide a view straight out of Pentwater harbor.

Rainbow Over the Dummy Bridge

Moonlight bathes Hamlin Lake on one of those nights so tranquil not even a fish appeared to be stirring. The setting was the Middle Bayou, one of my favorite spots on Hamlin Lake. I once lived there and when I go back to get to see pictures past as well as present.

Rainbows Over the Lincoln

The island in front of the swimming area at the Ludington State Park has many different names. I know two different families who have named the island in honor of their dogs because it was their pets' favorite stomping grounds during family vacations. The most common unofficial name that I have heard for this glorious piece of God's creation is Blueberry Island.

Tuesday night usually finds my wife singing in the community choir at West Shore Community College. That means that on Tuesdays I get our daughter Julia all to myself. I often load Julia in the jogging stroller and we head off the beaten path looking for photographs. I believe Julia is my muse because every time we go picture hunting together I am able to see the world in photographs better than I can alone.

My dad and I have been trying all winter to take aerial photographs of Hamlin Lake for "Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed" but we have had so little snow this year it was never worth our time or money. Our luck finally changed this Tuesday when Dave Johnson from Mason County Aviation took me up in his plane and I captured this photo of Hamlin Lake covered in ice.

While my son, Tad, explored sand dunes farther inland, I took up position on top of a dune overlooking Hamlin Lake and composed a view across Lower Hamlin Lake through the Narrows leading to Upper Hamlin Lake. Then, I sat in the sand and savored the view while waiting for the exquisite light the evening graciously delivered.

Sunset Bay

The Lincoln - panoramic

The Lincoln

Watching a new day dawn on Hamlin Lake awakens my senses. On a spring morning I set up my tripod and then sat back to relax until just before sunrise when the light jolted me into action.

Hamlin Exploration

Mild Winter

Todd Reed