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“Ice Break” and “Big Toot and Friends”

What a difference a day or so makes in Michigan! Before the infamous Bomb Cyclone winter storm hit Michigan in February 2019, I was drawn to the Ludington waterfront on a sunny morning to photograph three tugboats moored along the shore. I was happy with my shot. When the storm crossed over Lake Michigan from Wisconsin several days later, Ludington harbor looked more like Siberia. I knew right where to head to make a another good, but extremely different photograph.

Kitch-Iti-Kipi

Calm Night In Pentwater - panoramic

I thank God for this glorious view from the Lake Michigan bluff high above Arcadia. After years of looking, I finally found a vantage point that gave me an unobstructed view of this church steeple amidst a sea of hardwood tree canopies in full fall color.

In the workshops my dad and I lead, we tell our students not to be afraid of turning their cameras vertically. Some of our favorite photographs we have ever made are vertical images. On this day I took a horizontal photograph and a vertical photograph about 10 seconds apart. The composition in the vertical photograph was the definite winner.

Experiencing this view on the evening of July 3, 2019, was the visual highlight of my 4th of July weekend. When I climbed to the top of a high dune along the Hamlin Lake shoreline after landing our pontoon boat, I was immediately stunned by the expansive dune view and the way the shadows were playing upon the sand. Footprints left by daytime visitors who had long since departed added interesting design elements to the scene. I was in sand dune heaven.

Mid-to-late May is a magical time to step inside northern Michigan forests. The leaves on the hardwood trees have formed but are most likely not yet full-size. The forest is splendid, especially because the not yet fully-grown leaves leave more space for sunlight to reach the forest floor. May 22, 2020 was a picture-perfect day for my wife, Debbie, and me to hike the morning away on the Mt. Baldy Trail at one of the Mott conservancy trails along M-22 north of Arcadia. We observed many scattered trillium and other wild plants the first half-hour but when, after a couple of miles of hiking, we came upon this hillside covered with trilliums, I felt like I had entered a trillium dreamland. It was time for me to stop and try to find a picture-perfect spot to plant my tripod and make an image worthy of what I was seeing and feeling. My wife knows me. She knew this was going to take time. When I am blessed to find a scene like this, I know better than to rush; I want to make the best art I can, art that moves me and hopefully others. Debbie likes to keep moving so, as she often does, she hiked on, leaving me to catch her when I knew I was finished, knew I had made an image I felt good about. Thank you, Debbie, for putting up for years with my stop-and-go approach to hiking; I know it is not easy sometimes. We had already hiked several hundred miles together in 2020 before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In all that time, I never made a photograph that moved me like this one. Our reward that day was curbside-pickup takeout sandwiches and beer from Stormcloud Brewing Company in Frankfort, savored with a tailgate picnic at Frankfort beach.

"Heaven On Lincoln” by Todd Reed When the aurora borealis first appeared in the Ludington area Monday night, I quickly decided to make my first stop Lincoln Lake. I am so happy I did. The Northern lights were already visible when I arrived at Cartier Park. Shortly after I got my camera and tripod set up, the lights became more colorful. I made a quick test shot to see if my exposure was on target. It was. By then the colorful lights were dancing and reflecting on the water. I was in Lincoln Lake heaven! Nikon D850. F5.6 at 152 seconds, 800 ISO. 24-70mm lens at 24mm. On a tripod without a flash. 11:36pm on September 18, 2023.

Little Sable in Fall

Ludington New Years Eve Ball Drop

Manistee Eminance

I was on a scouting expedition to find good locations for photographing fall color when I came across this pastoral scene along Sugar Grove Road west of Round Lake. The red barns caught my eye, but it was the sheep in the foreground that made me stop to make a photograph.

Except for four years of college in Grand Rapids, I have lived in Ludington all my life. In that time, I have always been intrigued with the old Thompson Cabinet Company building near Pere Marquette Lake. I was pleasantly surprised to find this American flag hanging in the window today. F10.0 at 0.8, ISO 100, 70-200 mm lens at 95 mm

The White River Light Station near Whitehall, Michigan is a beautiful lighthouse. It also has a very informative museum inside. Shortly after making this photograph, I laid down in the grass and warm sunshine and took a nap. I woke myself up snoring. I guess I needed some rest.

Often when my dad and I travel together in his truck on photo adventures and he is driving, I am worn out by the later afternoon. It is a common occurrence for me to take a nap in the truck while he continues to look for photographs. Today at Stocking Drive at the Sleeping Bear Dunes, I woke up from a long nap to find my dad photographing some trillium he had found alongside the road. I dragged myself out of the truck and grabbed my camera and started looking for my own photographs. Soon I was full of adrenaline and wide-awake making this image of a lone trillium. Nikon D800. F2.8 at 1/5000, ISO 1600. 14-24mm lens at 14mm. Handheld without a flash. May 16, 2017 at 4:49pm

This is the view from the top of the De Zwaan Windmill, located in Windmill Island in Holland, Michigan. Mesmerized by the endless fields of tulips, I locked in on this particular area of one field. I patiently waited for the sunlight to reappear from behind a large cloud and then for the wind to die down enough to make the photograph I had envisioned. D800, F11 at 1/320, ISO 1600, 70-200mm lens at

Rim lighting is always dramatic, especially on frosty mornings in Michigan. With my large telephoto lens, the busy background goes out of focus very quickly making the grasses stand out even more.

Built in 1840, the Old Presque Isle Light is one of the oldest surviving lighthouses on the Great Lakes. The charming structure served as an active lighthouse until 1871 when it was replaced by the nearby, far taller New Presque Isle Light. F10 at 1/60, ISO 100, 24-70mm lens at 24mm