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Winter arrived in Ludington today while we were gone. This is my view of the Lake Michigan shoreline at Stearns Park upon my return. After donning a lot of foul weather gear, I venture into the blizzard-like conditions to make this shot. This weather is beyond exhilarating.

365 Week 05

Lake Superior Storm

Grand Island Ice Caves

Barn Between Traverse City and Sleeping Bear

Workshop

Eben Magic

June Has Arrived - Panoramic

Wednesday (3585)

The sand hitting my face feels like shards of glass as I make my way to the water's edge at Stearns Park to photograph the Ludington North Breakwater Light. The winds over Lake Michigan at times exceed 60 miles per hour. Magic light, white clouds and dark blue sky behind are my backdrop. Now I just need a huge wave. Bingo! F5.6 at 1/1250, ISO 100, 300 mm lens at 300 mm

First thing this morning I am back to catch the early morning light hitting hay bales in Lavern Sobieralski's field at the corner of Victory Drive and Conrad Road. Just as I had pre-visualized, the hay bales stand out in the morning light along with Roger and Marcia Hansen's barns at the adjacent Cherry Hill Farm. F22.0 at 1/25, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 105 mm

I have always admired the bravery of the commercial fishermen who venture onto Lake Michigan year around whenever possible. While making this shot of the Indian-owned and operated fishing tug Eagle, I wonder about the rugged vessel's life history; oh, if she could talk! F4.0 at 1/250, ISO 100, 12-24 mm lens at 14 mm

The golden light of October in Michigan is a photographer's dream. With dark clouds, brilliant fall color, and magic light, this small sailboat in Sutton's Bay looked picture perfect.

The highways and byways of the rolling farmlands north of Grand Rapids are one of my favorite places to find beauty. I love the way this field of corn stretches its way to a hilltop woodlot decked out in fall color.

The 225-foot-long Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock looks inspection-ready after arriving in Grand Haven for the annual Coast Guard Festival. Thousands of people will tour the Port Huron based buoy tender during the festival. The Hollyhock is responsible for about 150 aids to navigation in the lower Great Lakes. It also performs icebreaking, search and rescue, and environmental protection duties.

After having the flu for several days, photographing this beautiful horse was definitely a bright spot in my day. I worked hard at making the horse comfortable with me so I could pose him just the way I needed for my photograph. The key to this composition is how the red sumac behind the horse looks like a musical score and his ears and head relate to the background.

Royale Sunset

Frankfort Lighthouse

The day was November 10, 1975. It was—and still is—the roughest I have seen Lake Michigan. I was amazed by the 20- to 30-foot waves slamming into the Ludington lighthouse. The roiling sea engulfed the breakwater. Hurricane-force winds made it nearly impossible to stand up. I braced myself against a tree and held the camera as still as I could. Sand blasted me and my Nikon camera. Of course, I could not know that within a few hours, the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald would succumb on Lake Superior to what meteorologists would later describe as the “Perfect Great Lakes Storm.” What I did know without a doubt was this was the fiercest storm to hit the Ludington area shoreline since the Armistice Day Storm of 1940. I knew this storm was more than a match for even the mighty self-righting 44-foot Coast Guard motor lifeboat at Coast Guard Station Ludington. Thank God my shipmates there didn’t have to try to go out that day. The barometer dropped to the second-lowest level ever recorded in Ludington. Even the waves inside the Ludington pierheads appeared mountainous. The breakwater leading to the lighthouse was not even visible because the waves rolling over it were so large and storm surge so great. The waves were so big inside the harbor it was impossible to discern where the submerged breakwater was. This was a day for the history books. It was not the only big story I covered that day as a reporter and photographer for the Ludington Daily News. I had been sent earlier that day to a farm an hour away near Chase, Michigan, where a group of farmers herded their dairy cattle into a massive pit excavated in the middle of a farm field. The farmers surrounded the pit and shot and killed dozens of the cattle to draw national attention to the fact that their cattle and some farm family members were being poisoned by PBB that had been accidentally mixed into cattle feed they had purchased. The slaughter was a gruesome undertaking, carried out in pouring rain. I drove soaking wet back to Ludington. Upon reaching downtown Ludington, just before turning off Ludington Avenue onto Rath Avenue, where the newspaper was located, I could see the mountainous waves on Lake Michigan a half mile west of my location. I didn’t make the turn. Instead I drove straight to the west end of Ludington Avenue, jumped out of my Ford Bronco and began photographing the greatest Great Lakes storm I had ever witnessed. After a half-hour or so, I was too numb to shoot anymore. Incredibly, when I crawled back in my vehicle, I realized the hurricane force wind had blown all my wet clothing dry. I headed straight to the Daily News because I couldn’t wait to develop the 400 ASA Kodak Tri-X black and white film containing my storm shots. I was not anxious to see the cow-killing shots. Give me a great storm to photograph any day!

Star Trillium