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Preserve the Light

Pere Marquette Cross

A great challenge for my dad and me is to find new and creative ways to photograph the same subject. Fortunately, the ever-changing skies of the Lake Michigan shoreline work in our favor. On this morning, I had just captured the Little Sable Christmas Eve image and I was determined to find another beautiful photograph of the lighthouse. With the snow no longer falling, I waited for a fleeting moment of sunshine to illuminate the lighthouse against a stormy sky.

Being there, just being there to patiently watch the rising sun first strike the tips dune grass and then slowly paint more of the grass is a mezmerizing experience. On this October morning, a pink sky finished the Lake Michigan Shoreline painting.

One of the concepts my son Brad and I emphasize to our photography students is framing. Using something in the foreground to frame or partially frame an image provides immediacy, depth and added interest elements. I framed this shot shortly after sunrise at the beginning of November along the Lost Lake Trail.

January 22, 2010” “He is risen!” That familiar Christian declaration of faith in Jesus as savior came to mind on January 22, 2010 as I lined up the sun with the cross marking the long-recognized death site of missionary explorer Pere Jacques Marquette. According to the Jesuits, Father Marquette died on May 18, 1675, near this hilly spot between Pere Marquette Lake and Lake Michigan. I had been trying to make a sunset image like this for years, regularly scouting the potential from across Pere Marquette Lake during evening drives home. On this day the cross, sun, clouds and color combined to create a view better than I had ever imagined. One glance told me this was the day! But the sun was not quite lined up. I quickly calculated that if I could get to the end of the Ludington Yacht Club peninsula in time, everything might align. I drove the two blocks quickly, jumped out of my truck with my camera, 500-millimeter lens and tripod and ran until I ran out of land. Still the sun did not line up with the cross. Fortunately, a cold spell had built up the ice on Pere Marquette Lake. I did not hesitate to keep sprinting onto the ice. Twenty yards of running without falling on the slick ice later, everything lined up. I mounted the camera on the tripod, fine-tuned the tripod position and fired. Then I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God for good ice. I lived a few blocks away from this cross for more than a dozen years. During all those years of passing by the monument, almost daily, I had made only a few images of the cross that pleased me. None of them held a candle to this one. This image is especially dear to my heart not only because of its Christian symbolism but also because I have always loved and valued history, including the history of Father Marquette’s Ludington connection. Ludington was recognized as the death site of Father Marquette by generations of local Native Americans and settlers. In fact, when the area was first settled, Ludington was named Pere Marquette in honor of Father Marquette. The town was years later renamed Ludington in 1864 at the request of the most powerful lumberman in Pere Marquette at the time, James Ludington. The Pere Marquette River, Pere Marquette Lake, a street, a township and much more remain named Pere Marquette. Many different crosses have marked this spot over the centuries. This cross was erected in the 1950s as a community project. In 2019 and 2020, a new base for the cross was built through another community effort, and the cross has been put back in place to tower over Pere Marquette Lake. A lot of people believe that cross belongs there; I am one of them.

Little things can make or break an image. Straight horizontal lines in a photograph can be extremely destructive to the flow of a composition. This photograph would not work if it were not for the three diagonal lines in the sky. The diagonal lines get the viewer's eyes moving around the photograph and lead one's attention to the lighthouse.

I would love to hear the stories from all the different farmers who have worked this old tractor between Honor and Empire, Michigan. The farming life really intrigues me. Someday!

The heart of small towns and villages dotted across West Michigan agricultural areas is often a sizable grain elevator/feed mill operation. I think the Tri-County Feed Service facility provides an impressive entrance to New Era when approaching from the north.

Driving the scenic route home to Ludington tonight from the Muskegon State Park on Lake Michigan, I drove by White Lake long after sunset. I was shocked to see the beautiful afterglow in the distance. I pulled off the road, grabbed my camera, and made this image. Digital cameras see in the dark. It was much darker to the eye than this photograph appears.

Little things can make or break an image. Straight horizontal lines in a photograph can be extremely destructive to the flow of a composition. This photograph would not work if it were not for the three diagonal lines in the sky. The diagonal lines get the viewer's eyes moving around the photograph and lead one's attention to the lighthouse. D7000, F22 at 1/30, 100 ISO, 70-200mm lens at 185mm

Today we took a guided photo tour down the "fly only" zone of the Pere Marquette River near Baldwin. Our guide, Josh Mead, works for the Pere Marquette River Lodge. A few years ago Josh gave up the corporate rat race and became a full time guide and his new office is the Pere Marquette River. I think he is on to something! F6.3 at 1/160, ISO 800, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

I used a waterproof housing for my camera to make this unique photograph of the 140-foot USCGC Neah Bay. The Neah Bay is a Coast Guard ice-breaker and has a special low pressure air hull lubrication system which allows it to crush through over 20 inches of ice. F8 at 1/1250, ISO 400, 10-17mm lens at 11mm

Ice Fortress

I love black-and-white photographs. Driving around near Free Soil, this part of the North Branch of the Lincoln River was the black-and-white dream I was looking for.

This is my favorite tree to photograph in Mason County. This scene is on Kinney Road just east of Old US-31. To date, this is the best piece of art I have made of this scene.

Contending with Mother Nature is a way of life for farmers. When I saw this farmer trying to get this Riverton Township field harvested ahead of an approaching weather front, I knew I had to try to tell the story of man against the elements with my camera. I parked my truck and ran out into the field and hit the ground to frame the harvester and farmer against the storm clouds. I looked for that moment when the farmer looked back

Ludingtons Newest Lighthouse Styx Restaurant and Bowling Alley

Like a picture out of its past, Big Point Sable Lighthouse keepers' quarters glow with lights, as they did when operated by the Coast Guard until the 1970s. Volunteers now occupy the dwelling, conducting tours and working on maintenance and restoration. Another time exposure of Big Sable Light at night was part of the first photo story I ever shot, for a photography class in college in 1969.

Bass Lake boats bathe in magic light on a September morning. I spotted this scene weeks before making the photograph. The lighting had been ordinary on several wild goose chases to the spot. It is rewarding to finally see the quality of light a particular picture needs. It makes up for the frustration I feel over countless pictures that are in my visual library, but remains only mental images, because the right conditions have not yet appeared in front of my camera lens.