Search

Hamlin Lake is one of the largest manmade lakes in Michigan. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, lumber barons cut down thousands of trees in the area and then built a dam on the Sable River to create what is known today as Hamlin Lake. Many of the old stumps still remain on the lake bottom and they actually move around the lake because of the snow and ice. These two massive stumps near the Lost Lake Island move a few feet every winter. F5 at 1/400, ISO 100, 14mm lens at 14mm

Dunes Are Calling

Ludington State Park Island Trail at Sunrise (4905)

I have tried for over six years to make a photograph that I was pleased with at this spot on North Lakeshore Drive along the shores of Hamlin Lake. Finally, today my wait is over. The real secret to the success of this photo is the immediacy of the snow and bushes in the foreground and the clouds in the distance. F8.0 at 1/200, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 18 mm

Logans Pass - Panoramic

Fall is a nice time of year to shoot sunrises because you don’t have to get out of bed as early to catch the first light of day. The best light to photograph a sunrise often appears 20 minutes before the sun actually appears on the horizon. I made this photograph at Lost Lake during one of our “Picture Perfect Weekend” Workshops. Several of our students made equally compelling photographs.

Silver Lake shortly after sunrise provided the backdrop for some stored boats on an autumn morning.

Looking more like a watercolor painting than a photographic image, the Island Trail at Ludington State Park has never looked more gorgeous to me than on this November evening.

In my mind's eye, I see this picture as all about patterns and not at all about color. Any of the color seems distracting so I make an image to emphasize the pattern and tonal values, knowing I will remove any color later. F18 at 1/125, ISO 100, 24-70mm lens at 70mm

Looking more like a watercolor painting than a photographic image, the Island Trail at Ludington State Park has never looked more gorgeous to me than on this November evening.

Hamlin Magic

Fire wake

As young boys, my brother and I fished every bayou on Hamlin Lake in a boat similar to the one these fishermen were casting from on the lake's Middle Bayou on a summer evening.

Hamlin Lake looks like a mirror this ice-cold morning at Ludington State Park. I am delighted to have risen early to view this scene in dawn's early light.

Workshop at Ludington State Park

A fisherman slowly paddles to one of his favorite fishing holes on Lincoln Lake near Cartier Park. Mount Epworth is aglow behind him as the clouds make beautiful reflections on the calm water. F2.8 at 1/160, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 20 mm

Sometimes the simplest pictures are the best. At first I found myself looking and hoping for the presence of a duck or other added ingredient to this scene. The more I look, the more I see and appreciate the understated beauty of this stretch of the Pere Marquette River. F22.0 at 1/6, ISO 100, 300 mm lens at 300 mm

Our assistant manager, Rachel Gaudette, lives very close to Ford Lake in the eastern part of Mason County. For several years, she has been telling my dad and me to shoot a sunrise over her lake. Today, I finally took her advice and was blown away by the gorgeous sunrise that erupted.

Workshop at Ludington State Park

Every summer, my mom and family rent a cabin near an inlet on Hamlin Lake named Indian Pete Bayou. All year I look forward to spending time with the family around the camp fire and photographing Hamlin Lake. My family and I have witnessed many great sunsets from this particular spot, but this was one of the best.