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Baby Birds

 

Viewing the world through a telephoto lens with a wide aperture creates an impressionistic view of dandelions and one sharp standout.

Before my mother-in-law, Sharon Verduin, passed away from cancer, I remember her telling my kids that when they couldn't fall asleep at night that instead of counting sheep, they should count their blessings. I loved that idea and have done it several times myself and it always makes me smile.

Beautiful Silver Lake

 

The nature trails at West Shore Community College abound with outdoor photography subjects. This orange hawkweed stood out along the shore of a pond on the picturesque campus.

Close to Home

 

It was a magic moment. While photographing a farm surrounded by mustard grass near Fountain, I heard a noise in the opposite direction. I spotted a collie heading my way. Wheeling about, I instantly framed the dog in the viewfinder, panned with him, focused, and shot as he passed by toward the picturesque old farm that may have been his home. It was an unexpected incredible photographic experience.

Enjoying the Sunset

 

I have witnessed many a storm while living in Michigan for more than 70 years. I watched from my porch overlooking Ludington harbor as this front swept ashore on August 2, 2015, bringing with it the most spectacular mammatus clouds I had ever seen.

I saw so many bumblebees on knapweed when I was a boy that I logically named it bumblebee weed. A field of bumblebee weeds was a sure place to capture bumblebees and listen to them buzz in glass jars with holes in the metal lids. Now I become buzzed taking their photographs.

 

The soft looking texture and repetitive pattern of a rolling field of asparagus appealed to me as I was photo hunting near the Mason Oceana County line on an October afternoon. It was that subtle kind of picture I like to call "wine shots" because they affect you slowly but they tend to grow on you with time.

With our minds on the new photography book that my dad and I are working on that will cover West Michigan, I decided to head north to Frankfort and my dad headed south to Muskegon to photograph the solar eclipse. In this area of Michigan, we witnessed about 75 percent coverage. We also had clouds to battle, but as we often say, clouds are your friend.