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If you have not made a journey to Leland, Michigan, I highly recommend you make it a point to visit. Leland's most famous attribute is Fishtown, a historic Lake Michigan commercial fishing village. Leland is on M22 at the mouth of the Leland River. If you time your visit correctly, you can watch the two working fish tugs, Janice Sue and Joy, unload their catches of Lake Michigan whitefish.

For over a hundred years, these particular dunes on Hamlin Lake have been a popular picnic area for boaters. As a kid, my parents took my brothers and me here often. Now I enjoy taking my kids to the "Hamlin Dunes." F6.3 at 1/1250, ISO 400, 10-17mm lens at 10mm

The lighthouse keepers at the New Presque Isle Lighthouse near Alpena, Michigan were gracious enough to stay open late to allow my dad and me to climb to the top of the 113-foot tower overlooking Lake Huron. Michigan has 149 lighthouses lining its shorelines and the view from the top of the New Presque Isle Lighthouse has to be one of the most unique. The point of land that the lighthouse sits on is almost completely surrounded by water. F16 at 1/100, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

I am feeling envious as I watch a Coast Guard self-righting motor lifeboat head out of Grand Haven harbor for training in the big waves generated by Superstorm Sandy. I was privileged to drive Coast Guard motor lifeboats in big seas on Lake Michigan for 30 years before retiring from the Coast Guard Reserve in 2005. I miss the roller coaster rides on these 47-footers and the 44-footers that preceded them. F5.6 at 1/1600, ISO 800, 80-200mm lens at 175mm

Hunters Point Park on the Keweenaw

Manistee Light

365 Week

Peaceful Evening

Peaceful Evening - Panoramic

Gerlach Workshop in Munising

Today was a difficult day. When my tasks at work are very systematic and methodical, it is hard to shut that off and let my creative eyes SEE possible compositions. It is past sunset and I have not clicked the shutter yet. I stop at the Custer bridge, grab my camera and tripod, and hope that I can make an image I would be proud of. I carefully took several shots, and then sat there in the silence.

My local knowledge of good locations to photograph a sunrise at Ludington State Park paid off on this April morning. I had only to adjust my camera position laterally by a few feet to align a gap in the trees on the Island Trail with the sun. Nature did the rest.

Hurtling forth and plummeting down, breaking waves capable of overpowering almost anything in their path rush toward the Lake Michigan shoreline. On this November day, no one and no vessel dared to challenge them.

Snacking its way to Lake Michigan, water from Bass Lake catches sunlight on a September evening.

I have been watching several months for just the right light to photograph the sailboats lining the Ludington Yacht Club peninsula on Pere Marquette Lake. One August evening, storm clouds and the golden light of an approaching sunset made the scene extraordinary. A rainbow added the crowning touch.

The scene before me reminded me of mountains I have seen and skied down with my sons in backcountry areas of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. These "mountains" are actually sand dunes in the southern part of Ludington State Park. On this day, I enjoyed the mountainous look that an unusually heavy snowfall had helped create.

In photography and in life, getting close to someone or something brings out feelings you have never felt before. That's the kind of strong feelings I seek when I am fortunate enough to be on the Lake Michigan shoreline with my camera on an evening like this.

My uncle, Rod Marble, and a few other woodworkers helped the late Jim Roussin build this beautiful wood boat. As a young boy growing up in Ludington, I would always get excited seeing the Liberty underway. I am not sure when she was last in the water, but I hope to see her afloat soon. F8.0 at 1/50, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 24 mm

I had to smile the moment this snowman greeted me with a smile on his face in the alley near our photo gallery this morning. He definitely appears to be enjoying winter. I love winter as much as when I was a child building my first snowman. F3.5 at 1/1250, ISO 400, 80-200 mm lens at 86 mm