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The view from atop this massive sand dune in Ludington State Park is breathtaking. From here, you can see a large section of lower Hamlin Lake, a huge portion of the Ludington State Park, miles of Lake Michigan, and some of the tall buildings and landmarks in the town of Ludington. Access to this dune is along Piney Ridge Road.

October Magic

A Michigan Moment

A valuable composition lesson I have learned from my dad is that visually small objects, or

I love when the sky looks more ominous than a scene out of my favorite Peanuts cartoon strip in which Snoopy, at his typewriter on top of his doghouse, begins: "It was a dark and stormy night

The northwest wind sandblasts me and nearly blows me off the top of the high dune I have run up with the heart but not the body of a 20-year-old. The uphill sprint, the wind and the view leave me breathless. The thought occurs, I might pass out trying to make this Lake Michigan shoreline picture before the fleeting magic light disappears; thank God I don't.

On my way to a goodbye gathering for our oldest son Tad, who is returning to duty in the U.S. Army, I spot the perfect picture of the day. This shot is for him and for all of the brave men and women who serve our country in the Armed Forces. The Stars and Stripes fly proudly above the United States Post Office in downtown Ludington. F2.8 at 1/6, ISO 800, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm

My grandma, Dorothy Reed, is very proud of her flower gardens. She and my grandpa get much joy out of watching the songbirds and butterflies dance through their yard near the Ludington State Park.

When Julia, Ethan, and I walked outside of my brother and sister-in-law's house after a pre-Christmas family gathering, Ethan commented on how clear the sky was. We hopped in my truck and drove to the North Bayou of Hamlin Lake to get a clearer view of the Milky Way. Standing there, looking up at the million stars above our heads, I felt so blessed to have such a tight family connection here on Earth.

It looks like what I like to call a "Colorado Day" in Michigan with sunshine and blue skies as my son Brad makes his first run of the year down the reworked Loki run at Crystal Mountain near Thompsonville. Our family has always loved winter and skiing in Northern Michigan is one of our favorite winter adventures.

Ludington State Park

The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore has never disappointed me. This October 2011 evening at Miners Beach was no exception. Fortunately, Lake Superior was flat and calm and the evening sun was shining on Elliot Falls. The view warmed my heart and delighted my photo eye.

Time marches on, and so does sand. I look at this beautiful dune and the grass and forest land adjacent to it and know it will look very different the next summer. I wonder how much wind and water will change this beautiful area between Lake Michigan and Piney Ridge in ten years, hundred years, a thousand years. Our lives are such a miniscule segment of time gone by and time to come.

Tonight was the second annual Taste of Mason County at the Ludington Area Center for the Arts. During the event, my dad and I announced the winners of the online photo contest as well. Over 140 art lovers were in attendance and local pianist Craig Avery put his artistic touch on the music. F20.0 at 1/125, ISO 1000, 18-50 mm lens at 26 mm

Photography for my son Brad is always an action sport. Therefore it made perfect sense to have a mountable Go Pro camera so that others can see and experience what Brad is experiencing as he is making outdoor photographs during outdoor adventures. I plan to make good use of the camera as well.

Ludington State Park

August Blast

Celebrating a New Year

The battle between ships and mariners and the elements has intrigued me since I was young boy watching on the Ludington waterfront from my parents’ and grandparents’ automobiles as one or more of the several Ludington carferries still operating at the time fought their way through strong ice or fierce waves en route to and from Wisconsin. I never lost that fascination. When I became a journalist and photojournalist for the Ludington Daily News in 1970, I loved keeping an eye out for photo opportunities involving Lake Michigan boat and ship traffic. The carferries were my favorite muse, not only because I loved watching them but because the big ships were a vital segment of the local economy, and most of our readers had ties to them or at least enjoyed seeing them in action through my newspaper photographs. The big black ships with white trim also lent themselves perfectly to black and white photography, especially during the winter. Of the tens of thousands of carferry images I have made over the years, this one is my favorite black and white carferry photograph. On January 27, 1977, the 35-knot westerly winds of an arctic storm had driven ice shoreward and packed it tight like a giant trash compacter at the Ludington harbor entrance. The powerful, coal-fired steamships with extra-strong hulls for ice breaking could usually bulldoze their way through the ice, but this ice was packed 25-foot deep, leaving the City of Midland (right) nowhere to displace it as the ship attempted to steam that morning to Wisconsin with its load of railroad freight cars. The Midland ground to a halt just outside the harbor entrance. Several hours later, another C&O carferry, Spartan (left) became stuck while attempting to steam out past the Midland and break a path to open water. She ground to a halt just beyond the lighthouse. The ships fought the ice for hours, with assistance from the tugboat Mary Page Hannah. I took a lot of shots (too many, some might say) trying to capture peak moments. As evening approached, the two ships were now facing bow to bow with the lighthouse between them. While the Rule of Thirds is one of the age-old guidelines for composition, I looked at this scene and said to myself, what are the odds of these two great ships being so symmetrically positioned with a lighthouse between them? This was a time to break the rules if I ever saw one. To make the image even more symmetrical and three-dimensional, I backed up my camera position to include more of the two shadowy ice mounds. A lot of perseverance, thought and work went in to making this image. I gave it my best shot and was rewarded with one of my best shots ever. It doesn’t always work out that way, but, even with a good shot in the bank, I have long stood fast at changing scenes waiting for the big money shot.

I had been an avid fan of Outdoor Photographer for several decades when my favorite magazine selected one of my images of Munising Falls to grace the cover of their October 2016 issue. Several other photographs made by my son Brad and me illustrated our six-page story about discovering and photographing fall color in Michigan. We were proud to see Michigan’s autumn splendor showcased nationally.