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Something about the way these wild turkeys blended with their environment compelled me to get out of my truck and make this image.

365 Week

I had hiked through heavy snow for several hours on a January morning, occasionally finding a picture worth taking. On my way back from making the image I had pre-visualized on Lost Lake, I got an added bonus when these deer peered out from their snow shelter. The bonus shot was an example of what we preach to our workshop students: look for what you expect or plan to shoot, but be alert and ready for the unexpected shot.

After photographing this owl up close, it flew about 40 yards away and landed in a tree. The close-up shot was unique, but I love this environmental portrait a lot more.

365 Week

For nearly a century, people have been enjoying the five-and-a-half-mile Toonerville Trolley wilderness train ride. Today Brad and I are aboard the narrow-gauge train that starts out near Soo Junction in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. From my vantage point in the front car, I am getting an up-close view of a pair of sandhill cranes. From the rear car, Brad has already seen a black bear at a distance.

365 Week

We had been trying unsuccessfully all morning to make strong still and video imagery of an eagle while shooting in 2007 for an upcoming book, Ludington State Park: Queen of the North. Some days are a bust; this started out being one of those. The eagles were not cooperating, and we had gotten wet and cold bouncing around choppy Hamlin Lake. In the Coast Guard, I learned that if Plan A does not work, always have a Plan B already in mind. So, despite being disappointed, cold and hungry, we turned our attention to photographing salmon making their annual return to the Sable River from Lake Michigan. It was the last week of October, and the fall color reflecting off the wind-rippled surface of the water made this salmon appear to be under stained glass. It was not the image I had set out to make, but it turned out to be one of my favorite images from a year of intensely photographing Ludington State Park. In years past I had made lesser photographs of salmon in the same spot, just under water on a spawning bed with fall color reflected on the surface. But on this day, Mother Nature blessed me with an extraordinary added ingredient. A brisk west wind made all the difference, agitating the surface of the water just enough to create a shower glass effect on the river. This faceted surface reflected various colors in various directions, turning my photograph into abstract art. I don’t like setting up an image. I love “found” pictures that are real-time moments in the Michigan outdoors. I am especially proud of this image because, while many people surmise it is not “real” and is somehow an electronic after-the-fact manipulation, it is as real, as purely Michigan at its genuine best as I have ever made. I love a lot of abstract art, but I don’t find myself drawn to setting out to make a lot of abstract images. But I do know a good abstract photo moment when I see one.

365 Week

Spawning Salmon

365 Week

365 Week

I have made a lot of close-up shots of eagles but Brad and I also love to make environmental portraits of wildlife that are sometimes as much or more about their surroundings. There is something about the position of this eagle in a lone tree overlooking a large field near East Jordan that I think makes the eagle, and the tree, a perfect complement to each other.

Sunbather

Even though I see these red-winged black birds quite frequently, I am always in awe of their beauty.

Ludington State Park Vertical

Ludington State Park

Ludington State Park

My wife Betsy loves insects and our daughter Julia seems to have inherited her mother's love for insects as well. Julia found this ladybug on our front steps and had Betsy pick it up for a closer look. I was ready with my camera and macro lens. F2.8 at 1/250, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 50 mm

Legends Ranch