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I have always enjoyed the challenge of building strong, unique compositions utilizing reflections. In order to get the building, red roof, and tower of Au Sable Point Lighthouse to show up in the reflection, I had to lie on my stomach in Lake Superior. Thankfully, it has been a record breaking warm winter, but the water temperature still had my full attention. F8 at 1/200, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

Manistee Lighthouse During Workshop

Pentwater Lighthouses

Upon discovering that, even in snowshoes, I was unable to walk over the five-foot snow drifts on the utility road to Big Sable Point Lighthouse, I had to figure out another way to get to the lighthouse. After using some good risk assessment, I decided my best course of action was to walk on the ice a few hundred yards off shore. After almost a mile and a half of treacherous walking and crawling, I made it to the lighthouse. Exhausted and hot, I made this image in seven degree weather, made chillier by 20 mile-per-hour winds. It was so worth the journey. D7000, F22 at 1/60, ISO 100, 10-20mm lens at 10mm

Rain Amaze

The Director

The air was cold, the water was frosty, the clouds were subtle yet beautiful. What a fantastic day to be capturing the Lake Michigan shoreline and Point Betsie Lighthouse! I was glad to have my waterproof boots on as I worked hard to compose this image. The ice-covered stump made an interesting complement to the lighthouse in the background. Now it’s just waiting for the right wave to complete the photo.

The First Curve at the Ludington State Park is one of the most popular places in Ludington to watch the S.S. Badger carferry steam in and out of port. I used a 400-millimeter telephoto lens and a tripod to make this photograph from the water’s edge at the First Curve on an October evening in 2007.

I love going down to the beach on calm summer mornings in Ludington. As I was getting out of my truck to go for a run, I heard the Badger blow its horn, letting boaters know that it was about to leave the dock. I delayed going for a run and grabbed my camera and tripod instead. I climbed the small dune just west of the playground and waited for the Badger to get between the pier heads to capture this image.

Sail Away

From atop a high sand dune south of Big Sable Point Lighthouse, I could see the light projecting from the lamphouse intersecting with the light of the tail of the Comet NEOWISE. I decided to try to make a tight image that would emphasize that connection of light in the starry sky. Showing less of the light tower and none of the keepers’ dwelling kept the focus on the story I wanted to tell. Less is so often more..

Waves rush ashore at Point Betsie Light Station on a late winter afternoon. Point Betsie is one of Michigan's most distinctive and beautiful lighthouses.

After 10 hours and 250 miles of driving, I return to the spot where I made a much stormier and much less colorful photograph of the Manistee Lighthouse earlier today. The sea and sky couldn't look more different tonight and yet both occasions provided excellent photographic opportunities. Completely different pictures result from shooting the same subject on multiple occasions, even on the same day. The Michigan outdoors can change its appearance faster than a chameleon. F7.1 at 1/100, ISO 800, 80-200mm lens at 200mm

Trees have grown up to block most of the view from the water of McGulpins Point Light, but a five-minute drive from the Shepler's ferry dock in Mackinaw City puts me face to face with the charming brick structure. F5 at 1/800, ISO 200, 14-24mm lens at 17mm

Rolling Over Pentwater

On those glorious winter mornings in Michigan when the air is crisp and the light is sharp, it is a joy to be outdoors. On this ice-cold morning I was especially blessed because upon arriving at Big Sable Point Lighthouse I discovered some of the most unique and beautiful ice formations along the Lake Michigan shoreline that I have ever witnessed. Many of the ice creations looked to me like crystal sculptures. It was an amazing sight on an amazing morning.

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.

Little Point Sable Light has stretched 108-feet skyward since 1874 to stand out by daylight and by night with its powerful beacon. Despite the modern array of electronics on many boats and ships, the lighthouse provides visual verification that a vessel is where electronic position systems indicate location. I have learned to not place all my trust in the electronic marvels.

United States Coast Guard Helicopter HH-65c 6517 out of Traverse City was flying a search pattern tonight over Lake Michigan. The men and women of the Coast Guard are well trained and hard working and in times of great need, our community of Ludington truly embraces their presence along our shores. F4.5 at 1/1600, ISO 320, 300 mm lens at 300 mm

During one of our advanced photography workshops, Rachel and I tried to convince several students to walk out the Manistee pier in the rain with us to hopefully get a shot of the lighthouse if the sun broke out. None of the other students took the risk. Just after we made it to this spot, the rain poured down on us as hard as I have ever seen it rain. We had no rain gear on and our cameras and lenses were literally filling with rain. I told her to leave her lens cap on and to preset her exposure based on the sun popping out of the clouds because I knew it would be a one-shot deal. By the second shot the end of the lens would be so full of raindrops, the shot would be ruined. Luckily for us, the sun did break through the clouds for a few glorious moments and we each got one shot off that was properly exposed and in focus.