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Ludington Lighthouse

Wind contorts my face, waves roar and crash just short of the feet of my tripod, sun gleams and dances across the water, clouds paint the sky. I am in my glory. This is as good as it gets for a Lake Michigan photographer. These are the days I dream about and rarely experience. This mid-September day of 2001 on the Ludington waterfront was one of the best moments of my life. My camera recorded it so I and others can experience it again and again.

Today is the start of the second annual Westmaas family week-long vacation near Manistee, Michigan. Over twenty members of my mother-in-law's family come from all over the country to enjoy the shoreline and waters of Lake Michigan. The house we rented this year is near the 5th Avenue Beach in Manistee, Michigan. F22.0 at 0.4, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 18 mm

My dad and I headed out to the north side of the channel in Grand Haven today to photograph the abundance of fisherman catching perch, steelhead, and salmon. The pier was packed and several people were showing off their catches. The fog was "pea soup," as my dad would say, so I was not expecting to see many boats heading out for a joy ride. To my surprise, Karizmaddie, a racing sailboat, was venturing out into the fog.

Grand Island Light at Gerlach Workshop in Munising

Little Sable

Sunrise at Big Sable

Shadows to the Light

In the 1980s, high Lake Michigan water levels threatened to undermine Big Point Sable Lighthouse. The Coast Guard erected a planned replacement tower to be ready for the day the light toppled into Lake Michigan. Local lighthouse lovers and construction companies teamed up to repair the steel wall that once protected the light, adding further fortification against the waves. The reinforcement worked; the Coast Guard removed the backup light. Lake Michigan receded, allowing the waves to deposit sand around part of the sea wall. Knowing the potential fate at this light makes me appreciate its presence even more.

In the workshops my dad and I lead, we tell our students not to be afraid of turning their cameras vertically. Some of our favorite photographs we have ever made are vertical images. On this day I took a horizontal photograph and a vertical photograph about 10 seconds apart. The composition in the vertical photograph was the definite winner.

This is the best sunset I have ever seen while photographing the Manistee Lighthouse. I tried to time it so that the people walking down the pier were in a good location for this composition. I used the natural framing of the pier and placed the walkers in one of the archways. In our photography workshops, we call this concept micro composing. F9.0 at 1/125, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 35 mm

Manning Memorial Lighthouse

Storm Front Over Ludington

Shining brighter than a spotlight at a rock concert, beams of light I like to call "God beams" spotlight the Ludington lighthouse. I prefer nature's light shows to any manmade ones.

I walked out the Ludington North Breakwater to photograph the northern lights in the middle of the night. The lights we barely visible, but the Milky Way was incredible. You could also see the lights of Wisconsin. It was a beautifully calm night on Lake Michigan.

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!

North Manitou Shoal Light Station looks to me like a giant birdhouse as we cruise past on a voyage between Leland and South Manitou Island on a gorgeous July morning. The light station was automated in 1980 and has not been manned by the Coast Guard since then. Cormorants appear to have taken over the structure.

Photographing lightning always gives me a jolt of adrenaline. This storm that rolled in from Lake Michigan hit Manistee with a punch. I was excited that I was able to capture a small bolt of lightning with only a shutter speed of 1/5 of a second. F22 at 1/5, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens at 27mm

365 Week 06

Those who climb their way to the top of the Skyline Trail are rewarded with a birds-eye view of the southern portion of the park. If they time their hike to the schedule of the carferry S.S. Badger, and look through a good pair of binoculars or a large telephoto camera lens, they might also enjoy one of the best views they have ever seen of the big ship heading out of Ludington harbor.