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Lights Over the Hamlin Dunes

Four Carferries

Wagner Falls Near Munising

Every summer, my mom and family rent a cabin near an inlet on Hamlin Lake named Indian Pete Bayou. All year I look forward to spending time with the family around the camp fire and photographing Hamlin Lake. My family and I have witnessed many great sunsets from this particular spot, but this was one of the best.

I have been known to do crazy things to get a photograph. On this occasion, I was frustrated because I could not position myself to capture this sailboat and its reflection, yet omit the other boats from the scene. I had two options; climb a tree along side of the road, or stand on the roof of my car. My car still has a large dent in the roof.

Unique photographs are often right in front of our eyes. Looking closer for pictures opens a new visual world featuring more detailed, stronger views of its parts. On this summer night, the base of the Pentwater South Pierhead Light provided an abstract view of the moon rising.

Dwarfed by the forest, a cross-country skier glides silently along the Logging Trail on one of those winter days that winter lovers live for. I have skied the Logging Trail so many times I have memorized the views that will greet me over the next hill or around the next curve. Yet I never tire of my Logging Trail journeys. There is something comforting about knowing a place. It is a feeling like home.

The 112-foot-high Big Point Sable Lighthouse towers over the shoreline and forest in this November 4 view from the Ridge Trail. A giant white pine provides a counterpoint for the composition I had envisioned weeks earlier before the color peaked.

This is one of the lifeboats from the City of Flint 32. The City of Flint 32 was one of the many past carferries that put Ludington on the map when this port had the largest carferry fleet in the world. F5.0 at 1/125, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 18 mm

I am a total creature of habit. When I am out driving around looking for photographs, I have realized that I always drive to the same places and take the same roads. Today I forced myself to find a road I had never been down. This scene was a great surprise when I turned east on Jagger Road off of Jebavy Drive. F22.0 at 0.4, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 35 mm

Every spring since I was a very small child, I have spent time in the Michigan woods with my family looking for morel mushrooms. Today, I had the amazing honor of hunting for the elusive mushrooms with one of the best morel mushroom hunters in North America. Roger Thurow, a Scottville, Michigan native, has won the national morel mushroom hunting championship multiple times. He took me to a few of his favorite spots and showed me the ways of a master. I will never forget this day. My wife, Betsy, and our kids enjoyed eating the bounty.

I don't know who was smiling bigger when the sun finally came out today, this sunflower or me. As the famous National Geographic photographer Sam Abell might say, I was "in the presence of a picture."

Mid-May is one of my favorite times of the year. The woodlands are coming to life and there seems to be a new visual discovery to be made at every turn. I love the way trillium were blooming at the base of a tree trunk along M22 near Empire.

While hanging out of the window of a small airplane and trying to photograph the Ludington City Beach, I noticed this beautiful speedboat anchored and enjoying the calm water on Lake Michigan. We teach our workshop students to look for scenes like this where there is a small person or object in the big world.

A setting full moon greets us as Brad and I wait for dawn's early light. The light of the moon should give us a jump on spotting a snowy owl we know is hanging out in a West Michigan field.

One of the most impressive aspects of the Shepler's Lighthouse Cruise is the expert lighthouse history narration provided by volunteer members of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association. Dick Moehl and Terry Pepper tell us of the ongoing extensive efforts to restore St. Helena Island Light, its outbuildings and boathouse. They are always looking for more volunteers and donations to assist with the project. F7.1 at 1/1000, ISO 400, 300mm lens at 300mm

Meet my new friend, Bud. Bud is one of the world famous Budweiser Clydesdales. The Clydesdales are in the Ludington area for a week to help celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Ludington Beverage Company. My Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Reed started the business and it has been in the family ever since. F2.8 at 1/80, ISO 3200, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

The new treetop-level observation deck at Nordhouse Dunes Federal Wilderness provides a bird's eye view of a Great Lakes freighter steaming northward between Big Sable Point and Manistee, Michigan. This spot also provides panoramic views of thousands of acres of woodlands. I can't wait to return during peak fall color. F8 at 1/2500, ISO 100, 80-200mm lens at 80mm

Red pine trees are known for growing tall and straight in Michigan but one or more severe windstorms has obviously impacted this forest near Free Soil, Michigan. Many of the trees have been left bent to varying degrees. F10 at 1/500, ISO 800, 80-200mm lens at 200mm