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Wednesday

I have always liked "Charlie Brown" trees, the small ones with not enough branches to make what most people would choose for a Christmas tree. It is those spaces between the branches that allow both the tiny tamarack tree and the meadow near Big Bass Lake in Lake County to stand out, making me pause to take this shot.

Trillium Grand Rapids Aman Park May

Michigan berries appear to be bursting out of the dark bog they are growing in on a country road in Lake County. It is early November, a perfect time of year to make this image in this place. I will write that down in my mental notebook for future reference. Experience is a good teacher.

Wednesday Epworth Fall Color

My dad and I are always photo hunting as we drive or ride in cars. This morning we passed a huge swamp that was full of dead trees. One of the dead trees was tilted at a 45-degree angle and it caught my eye as I was sitting in the passenger seat of my dad's Suburban. I had my dad pull over and turn around. I grabbed my camera and tripod and a few seconds later made this composition. F8 at 1/2000, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

Arrangement

A sunrise to rival the beauty of the evening primrose growing along the Pere Marquette River, south of Ludington, seemed too good to be true. It was true and the light and flowers were preserved on film.

Of the thousands of plums growing at The Gary Crane Farm, this one stands out as ripe for picking to be the subject of one of my photographs today in the u-pick orchard at Fennville. To me, my selection looks beautiful and delectable.

Growing Old

I lay on my back in my neighbor's front yard to make this photo. She came out to check on me to make sure I was all right. I assured her I was fine, and that the giant tree in her yard captured my attention. F8.0 at 1/160, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 18 mm

One of the treats of going to Michigan's Upper Peninsula is that you can still see large stands of birch trees there. As I drove around a curve on H58

A visitor to Crane Michigan Fruit Orchards, Fennville, enjoys picking from among a crate filled with peaches. Visitors to the u-pick farm may also choose to harvest fruit right from the trees. Visitors come from across Michigan and out of state to enjoy a fruit picking experience and the famous home-cooked meals at the Crane's Pie Pantry Restaurant & Bakery. I definitely will be back!

I feel the spirit of these woods at Hartwick Pines State Park so strongly I am compelled to make an annual pilgrimage to Grayling to revere this place as much as to photograph it. Some of these native white pines tower 300 feet over my head. The view from lying on the ground at the base of one of these monsters is priceless.

A simple composition can be a strong composition. I liked the framing around the sun by the branches of these trees. You don’t always have to include the entire tree in your image, your brain will complete the missing parts.

Bending against a brisk October breeze but not breaking, dune grass withstands another "northwester" along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

For me, being out in nature is a way to get close to God. Looking out at the woods from inside the log chapel at Hartwick Pines State Park is a more obvious way for me to find God in nature. Being at Hartwick Pines to take in the snowy woods when no one else is here enhances the experience. My favorite poet, Robert Frost, would have loved being here today. I think he might have had similar feelings about this special Michigan place.

So many birch trees in Michigan have fallen victim to disease that I appreciate finding any of them still standing in the woodlands. These birch trees were standing tall along Hamlin Lake.

Watching more and more of the birch trees in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula die from disease and disappear makes me sad. So much beauty lost. This stand of birch still looked attractive when I discovered them along a country road in 2004. When I returned several years later, they were all dead and disappearing. I am grateful for the opportunity to have seen them when they were still alive