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Ludington State Park

I keep trying to edit this picture out. I enjoyed making the picture of the riveted keel of a rental boat on the Hamlin Lake shoreline at Ludington State Park. I like the resulting image, yet I did not feel comfortable with including it in this book. My son and shooting partner, Brad, loves the image. He sees abstract pictures almost everywhere he looks and shoots many of them. Getting out of your comfort zone can be uncomfortably good. So the picture stays.

My dad and I have hiked several miles today carrying our heavy telephoto lenses, full camera bags, and tripods all over Isle Royale hoping to get a photograph of a wild Michigan moose. Unfortunately, we never saw a moose, but we did find some wonderful views on our adventure. On our way back to our room at the main lodge, we explored Suzy's Cave. My dad photographed inside the cave and I climbed to the top and photographed the grand view from above.

Little Sable Lit Up

One of my favorite professors when I was a student at Calvin College told me a story recently about his father. His father was from California and every time he came to visit his son at Calvin, he would refer to Lake Michigan as the "sweet water". In California, when they would try to dig wells for drinking water near the coastline of the Pacific Ocean, the water would often be undrinkable due to the salt content. If you were lucky enough to dig a well and hit "sweet water" you were considered very fortunate. Many people today that live near the Great Lakes take them for granted and don't realize how valuable they really are.

Bonfire and Music on Stearns Beach

While several of our photography workshop students were working to create strong, unique images at a sunflower field along M-22 near Onekama, a surprise visitor completed my composition.

O.K. It's really a Baltimore Oriole. But since it was residing in Ludington State Park, and since my three sons and I were Ludington Orioles during high school, I have taken some editorial license. The colorful songbird had probably recently returned from the south when I came upon him in mid-May on the Island Trail.

After an incredibly long and hard day of hiking and shooting photographs on Isle Royale, at around 11:30 p.m., my dad and I decided to take a chance and make the short hike to Tobin Harbor to see if the northern lights were out. To our surprise, we could see them as soon as we got onto the seaplane docks. We needed to set up quickly to ensure we got good images before midnight so we could use them in our new Wednesdays book. I knew from past experience I needed a 15-minute exposure. Multiple loons and at least two moose were calling back and forth over the water.

Rays of Hope

Badger In The Mist

 I had planned a weekend trip to Munising, to travel and shoot the surrounding area waterfalls. While the weather was challenging for most of the trip because of down pouring rain, it helped bring out the intense green that only a spring rain can do! Miners falls had been on my bucket list to visit, and I had finally made the journey. Upon my arrival, I quickly realized that there was nothing Miner about it! Now, it is one of my favorite falls to visit. The hike through the woods to get to the falls is incredible in itself.

Hiking to Big Sable Point Lighthouse is always one of my favorite pastimes. My family and I enjoyed many laughs and stories on the hike to and from the iconic lighthouse today.

Brad and I put on another of our annual photography tips programs at Big Sable Lighthouse this evening and within a half-hour of its conclusion nearly everyone is gone. Brad and his daughter Julia head up to the top of the light to check out the view from the top while I stay below and wait for the sweet light. Here it is! F16.0 at 1/6, ISO 100, 12-24 mm lens at 24 mm

Fritz at Bass Lake Outlet

Ludington Fireworks

Ludington Fireworks

The moon is an extremely difficult subject to photograph. If you set your exposure according to the camera meter, then you get some detail in the night sky and foreground, but the moon is a solid white circle with no detail. If you underexpose by three or four stops, then you get the "cheese" of the moon, but no detail in the sky or foreground. The moon also moves so quickly that it requires a relatively fast shutter speed. When it's dark outside, the only way to get a fast shutter speed is to raise your ISO or film speed. However, high film speeds are grainy or noisy. The choice is yours.

Tonight I took our college intern, Brett Whitehead, out on the Ludington North Breakwater so he could shoot video of me as I photographed the SS Badger carferry going by from one of my favorite "hot spots." The fog was an added bonus. D800, F6.3 at 1/640, ISO 3200, 14-24mm lens at 24mm

Rippling