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Happy Easter! This bunny was in my yard tonight. I used a rabbit call on my iPhone to help make this image.

A Michigan steelhead leaps high in an attempt to get over a short dam on the Betsie River near Benzonia. The Betsie is among the many Michigan rivers that attract fishermen from across the country.

Earlier today, I was in my backyard helping build a deck off the back of my house. While working, I kept seeing this little bird flying around and hopping from tree to tree. When trying to figure out what to photograph for my photo of the day, I remembered the beautiful bird from earlier in the day. F5.6 at 1/50, ISO 1600, 600 mm lens at 600 mm

Bear On the Move

365 Week

Tonight, I drove to my Grandpa and Grandma Reed's house to photograph some of the birds that frequent their beautiful yard. As I pulled into the driveway I spotted this male cardinal. Luckily for me, he stayed put for about 10 minutes, which allowed me to get in just the right spot to make this photograph. F4.0 at 1/200, ISO 1000, 600 mm lens at 600 mm

Nothing could have excited this Michigander more on a winter’s day photo excursion on M-22 than experiencing this eagle flying by so close that my 500-millimeter telephoto lens could seemingly reach out and touch it. The mature eagle was among several hunting for food on a January morning near Crystal Lake north of Frankfort. Brad and I were en route to photograph the Point Betsie Lighthouse when we spotted several eagles feeding just offshore by a large open-water seam in the ice. We saw one of the eagles fly to shore and roost in some tall pines on a nearby hillside. The lighthouse could wait; there might be an image here as good or better for the book we had started shooting, Todd and Brad Reed’s Michigan: Wednesdays in the Mitten. We would be proved correct. We quickly set up 25 yards on either side of the flight path and waited…and waited. I was rewarded with my all-time favorite eagle-in-flight image when one of the eagles chose to fly right by my hiding spot instead of Brad’s. The image was (and remains especially) meaningful to me because my Army Ranger son Tad served our country for several years as a 101st Airborne Screaming Eagle. This eagle was definitely screaming past. Once I got on target, I was able to squeeze off three shots as I swung the lens on my gimbal tripod head and tracked with the majestic bird. With fast action shots, a photographer can often pre-select the background; but often, time does not allow one to see at the fraction of a second of exposure exactly how the subject fits against the background. Back the next day on my computer at our gallery, this image screamed for attention and selection. The bird fit perfectly against the background, simplifying and making order out of what would have been chaotic one one-thousandth of a second earlier or later. Brad and I like to say, “Little things are big things.” On this shot, a fraction of a second made a big difference

Gull Morning

Rest Stop

Bear Path

Walking out to check our freezer beef cattle, a group of geese came in for a landing. I am so fortunate that my kids can wander our fields and have first-hand encounters with all the wildlife here.

While photographing geese on a small pond near my home, I suddenly hear the familiar jackhammer sound that can be made by only one living thing: a pileated woodpecker. I swing my 500 mm lens around and there he is atop a power pole. Fortunately for the power company, the woodpecker soon moved on to find a better place to peck. F4.5 at 1/1000, ISO 400, 500 mm lens at 500 mm

Panorama

Smorgasbord

Emerald Lake

Mountian Goat

I love seeing the red-winged blackbirds in the Pere Marquette River flats south of Ludington. This male sings what I imagine is a springtime love song while swaying in the breeze atop a cattail. F5.6 at 1/2500, ISO 800, 500 mm lens with 1.4 extender at 700 mm

Panorama Resort

Legends Ranch Veterans Ceremony August