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It is a dark, rainy September day but I keep reminding myself we are always preaching to our photography workshop students that bad weather is good weather for photographers. I just have to find the good. From my truck, the apples trees in a Mason County orchard do not look attractive. But when I move 20 times closer and throw in a little light from my truck headlights, these apples look better than candy apples at a country fair.

I enter a dark woods off of Piney Ridge Road and soon come to a wall of sand. I start to ascend the massive sand giant, stopping occasionally to let the burning in my legs recede. It is a race. Photographer versus the sunlight of early morning. I crest the peak and turn to the east to see if I've won. I notice beautiful yellow flowers at my feet. I get into position and only have to wait two minutes for the sun. Beautiful!

Bond Falls at Sunset

Photographers should pay farmers to grow sunflowers! When I think of million dollar view, I think of a field of sunflowers in the country as with this scene found along Beyer Road in northern Mason County. I pray the farmers who grow them make a handsome profit to continue to plant them.

Too magical to be real, a white horse made an already beautiful Michigan fall color view truly magnificent. One never knows what wonder will appear when traveling the byways of West Michigan.

Weekend Workshop

I had the luck of the Irish tonight while chasing the northern lights over Hamlin Lake with our manager Rachel and her sister Sarah. We were all fortunate to make images of the northern lights before they disappeared. My best image of the night was my first image. This was a St. Patrick's Day I will never forget.

365 Week

Wednesday (3378)

When I was a boy, I loved to slip silently through a field of knapweed in search of bumblebees to capture. Now, just looking at and photographing the knapweed is reward enough. Throw in the Lake Michigan shoreline north of Ludington for a backdrop, and I am in visual heaven!

My aunt and uncle, Sue and Randy Marble, just purchased a large canvas of this photograph of the White Birch Forest. This incredible forest is about 16 miles west of Grand Marais on Alger County Road H-58. The first week of October is often a good time to visit the White Birch Forest to see the surrounding maple trees in peak fall color. D800, F2.8 at 1/320, ISO 100, 300mm lens at 300mm

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

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

365 Week

As I was standing at the water's edge of Lake Michigan at the Ludington State Park with a workshop student, I saw one single leaf wash ashore. I quickly grabbed my camera and made this image. A moment later, a wave came and took the leaf back to sea. Nikon D800. F5.6 at 1/50, ISO 3200. 14-24mm lens at 24mm. Handheld without a flash. October 14, 2017 at 7:06pm.

I have always been drawn to the color blue, especially when it is mixed with shades of green. The tropical looking waters of Lake Michigan and the golden dune grass blended together perfectly through my large telephoto lens in order to create the warm, calm feeling I was looking for.

I have studied this old oak tree in Pere Marquette Township for some time. A fresh overnight snowfall highlights the massive tree's beautiful shapes. F11.0 at 1/5, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 130 mm

When I was a kid, my brothers and I spent a lot of time climbing trees in our neighborhood near Lake Michigan. One of our neighbors had a huge old beech tree in his yard and he would let all the neighborhood kids climb it. While I was photographing this tree in Marshall, Michigan, I could hear all the laughter and voices of my brothers and friends in my head and it made me smile.

As I was standing at the water's edge of Lake Michigan at the Ludington State Park with a workshop student, I saw one single leaf wash ashore. I quickly grabbed my camera and made this image. A moment later, a wave came and took the leaf back to sea.

Simplicity is one of the 20 concepts we teach in our 20/20 Vision workshops. Simple pictures can be hard to pull off because there is a very fine line between simple and boring. Thankfully the gorgeous sunlight reflecting off Lake Michigan helped make this simple picture beautiful and not boring.