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Aerial photo of PM River with fall color.

Rachel and I took our kids swimming in the Pere Marquette River today, at her family’s farm. While they were all enjoying playing together, I took our underwater camera housing and made this image of the bright summer sun lighting up a spawning bed on the river bottom.

I took Rachel’s son David Benjamin pike fishing tonight on Pere Marquette Lake. Unfortunately, the fish weren’t biting, but we still had a great time and a fun boat ride in my dad’s Boston Whaler. We stopped the boat on our way back to the boat slip to make this image of the setting sun.

Indian Bridge over the Pere Marquette River is a popular spot for fishing. When the fishing is hot, it is lined with men, women, and families fishing. Tonight, the banks are empty, the river is calm enough that the vegetation and trees along it are reflected nicely. I was even blessed with magic light!

Dave Johnson took Rachel and me flying today so that we could make images for our 366 Project. We flew over Rachel’s family farm and then followed the Pere Marquette River back towards Ludington. Partway between Scottville and Ludington, I opened the window of the plane and leaned out into the rushing air to make this image.

As Brad and I were driving back to Hart to pick up the kids, we drove past St. Mary’s Lake. I decided to swing through by the boat launch. What a welcome treat!

While getting all our deer hunting stuff ready for opening day on the 15th, my dad and I took a break shortly before sunset and walked down in front of our cabin to the banks of the Pere Marquette River. We had excellent clouds, sun rays, and golden light as I made this image.

Our friend Bill Castonia can fix and build anything. My dad’s deer hunting tower down in the swamp along the Pere Marquette River had a bent metal leg that the ice had destroyed. It made the 22-foot tower unsafe and unusable for eight years. Bill came and looked at it and said he could fix it, no problem. A week later I made this image of my dad from that tower as he was walking by deer hunting.

Before the sun rose this morning, I was in position to shoot the sunrise along Old US-31 over the Pere Marquette River Flats. I was excited to see we had great clouds forming as the sun finally rose enough to turn the swamp grass in front of me gold. After I made this image, I headed to the grocery store. When I came out of the store, I was blown away by how awesome the clouds had gotten.

Well, Brad and I did it again. I was making my way into work and knew the clouds were too good to pass up. I turned on old Pere Marquette highway and parked at the river flats. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized Brad had shot there 40 minutes before I did.

I don’t venture to the west side of the bridge over the Pere Marquette River in Scottville, Michigan very often. I tend to pull into Riverside Park instead. I drove as far as I could off to the west and then walked as far as I could go. I sat there for several minutes. Soaking up this view.

I took a detour on my way home tonight. I stayed off US-10 and drove mostly backroads. Color started to fill the sky. The only thing I needed was a subject. This tree was placed perfectly in the roll of the hill.