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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

The January Thaw is in full swing today, creating lots of puddles. I know when I see this lone seagull reflected in a puddle near the west end of Ludington Avenue that I have found the shot I was seeking. F4.0 at 1/500, ISO 400, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm

Tuesdays With Todd and Brad Reed

The S-curve shapes of this tree along the Lake Michigan shoreline at Ludington State Park have long caught my eye. Today as I pass by in my car on M-116 a crow sits atop this tree like a beautiful ornament. It stays in just the right spot long enough to make the picture. I am very pleased to have found this quieter picture. F2.8 at 1/1000, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm

Tuesdays With Todd and Brad Reed

I am hustling to capture this moment after seeing these canoers fishing on Lincoln Lake. The Dummy Bridge at Epworth Heights provides the backdrop. F3.2 at 1/320, ISO 400, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm

Tuesdays With Todd and Brad Reed

Tuesdays With Todd and Brad Reed

An integrated tug and barge steams past Ludington South Breakwater Light while northbound on Lake Michigan. I wish the ship's crew smooth sailing and arrival at their home port before Christmas. F4.0 at 1/400, ISO 100, 500 mm lens at 500 mm

Thousands of people pack around downtown Ludington's main intersection for the second annual New Year's Eve ball drop. This is without a doubt the most incredible manmade event I have ever witnessed in our great community. F4.0 at 0.3, ISO 1600, 12-24 mm lens at 12 mm

The Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw looks formidable as it docks in Ludington during the three-year-old ship's first visit to this port. The icebreaker stopped in Ludington before heading to Wisconsin to the shipyard. F7.1 at 1/400, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 120 mm

Before a big house was built in front of our picture windows, my wife and I enjoyed an unobstructed, grand scenic world-class view of the Lake Michigan shoreline from Ludington to Little Sable Point. Now I use the "twice-as-close rule" to narrow my focus and exclude the big house from the images I make in front of our home. F6.3 at 1/125, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 130 mm

The old Coast Guard station and lighthouse mark the harbor at Beaver Island as we pass by on the Emerald Isle ferry on our way back to the Michigan mainland at Charlevoix. A fresh breeze straightens the American Flag. It is a beautiful day for a cruise, a perfect ending to experiencing the island. F4.5 at 1/800, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 120 mm

After celebrating Christmas, my wife Debbie and I headed north to Crystal Mountain Resort. On the way back home I decided to stop in Manistee to make a "Christmas Light" photograph. F10 at 8 seconds, 100 ISO, 300mm lens at 300mm

I made a picture I felt good about earlier today of a small sapling rising out of ice-coated snow. But this winter night's view of the Michigan Power Cogeneration plant on Sixth Street in Ludington finds me backing my car up to take a better look. Yes, this scene definitely stands out as my 365 picture of the day. F4.0 at 1.6, ISO 100, 12-24 mm lens at 24 mm

The former Coast Guard Cutter Snohomish looks shipshape docked on Pere Marquette Lake at the Lake Michigan Carferry docks. The privately owned 110-foot tug was built in 1943. F4.0 at 1/125, ISO 200, 12-24 mm lens at 24 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

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

January 22, 2010” “He is risen!” That familiar Christian declaration of faith in Jesus as savior came to mind on January 22, 2010 as I lined up the sun with the cross marking the long-recognized death site of missionary explorer Pere Jacques Marquette. According to the Jesuits, Father Marquette died on May 18, 1675, near this hilly spot between Pere Marquette Lake and Lake Michigan. I had been trying to make a sunset image like this for years, regularly scouting the potential from across Pere Marquette Lake during evening drives home. On this day the cross, sun, clouds and color combined to create a view better than I had ever imagined. One glance told me this was the day! But the sun was not quite lined up. I quickly calculated that if I could get to the end of the Ludington Yacht Club peninsula in time, everything might align. I drove the two blocks quickly, jumped out of my truck with my camera, 500-millimeter lens and tripod and ran until I ran out of land. Still the sun did not line up with the cross. Fortunately, a cold spell had built up the ice on Pere Marquette Lake. I did not hesitate to keep sprinting onto the ice. Twenty yards of running without falling on the slick ice later, everything lined up. I mounted the camera on the tripod, fine-tuned the tripod position and fired. Then I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God for good ice. I lived a few blocks away from this cross for more than a dozen years. During all those years of passing by the monument, almost daily, I had made only a few images of the cross that pleased me. None of them held a candle to this one. This image is especially dear to my heart not only because of its Christian symbolism but also because I have always loved and valued history, including the history of Father Marquette’s Ludington connection. Ludington was recognized as the death site of Father Marquette by generations of local Native Americans and settlers. In fact, when the area was first settled, Ludington was named Pere Marquette in honor of Father Marquette. The town was years later renamed Ludington in 1864 at the request of the most powerful lumberman in Pere Marquette at the time, James Ludington. The Pere Marquette River, Pere Marquette Lake, a street, a township and much more remain named Pere Marquette. Many different crosses have marked this spot over the centuries. This cross was erected in the 1950s as a community project. In 2019 and 2020, a new base for the cross was built through another community effort, and the cross has been put back in place to tower over Pere Marquette Lake. A lot of people believe that cross belongs there; I am one of them.