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For more than a quarter century, I have watched a once impressive farm north of Custer fading away. The painstakingly trimmed house where a proud family once lived was among the first buildings ravaged by the elements, vandals, and scavengers. The house has collapsed since I recorded this scene. Despite the decay of the old farm, I still find it sadly beautiful and continue to watch and record its slow death.

As I made my personal journey of photographing the Ludington State Park, I relished the opportunity to explore areas of the park that I had never seen before. It seemed that over every dune and behind every pine row there was a whole new world to discover and photograph. I knew when I found this section of dead trees that there was a great picture waiting to be made. I sat on the small sand mound for 10 minutes waiting for the light to hit the trees and give them life again.

The Michigan State Jazz Band came to the Ludington Area Center for the Arts for the third annual Jazz It Up fundraiser. The music was phenomenal and the band received a standing ovation from the appreciative crowd in the performance hall. F2.8 at 1/25, ISO 1000, 18-50 mm lens at 18 mm

I was recently chatting with a young man in the gallery who was a foreign exchange student at a high school in southern Michigan. When he first saw Lake Michigan, he could not believe how large and how beautiful it was. He proclaimed, "Lake Michigan is as good as it gets!" I made this image in front of Point Betsie Lighthouse and the color is real. Go check it out for yourself if you are in doubt. You won't be disappointed. D800, F2.8 at 1/1600, ISO 100, 70-200mm lens at 200mm

It looked like the world’s largest bulldozer had been at work in the Straits of Mackinac, pushing thousands of tons of rare “blue ice” into mountainous piles near Mackinac Bridge. Actually, forces of nature—wind, waves, and the expansion of ice—teamed up to break the blue ice, drive it ashore and stack the broken sheets. This February 23, 2012 morning was the first time Brad and I ever saw the blue-hued ice. We had seen photographs of the rarely occurring natural phenomenon but thought they must have been taken in the arctic, not Michigan. Seeing is believing!

Fall Tapestries

Perhaps erected in a vain attempt to keep sand from blowing toward a nearby summer cottage, fencing looked more like a snow sculpture on a January morning at Epworth Heights resort.

A mystic morning greets me. Fog bathes the Buttersville Peninsula outside our Crosswinds home. The scene looks subtly beautiful and makes waking up without our sidekick Beamer momentarily more bearable. Life without your lab is simply not as good. F5.0 at 1/320, ISO 100, 105 mm lens at 105 mm

I had seen extremely blue ice on television and in other people's photographs, but I had never witnessed it myself. For Week 8 of "Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed," my dad and I drove four hours north to photograph the Mackinac Straits area. As we drove down a steep hill and got our first look at the straits, we knew we had hit the jackpot. In front of us were miles and miles of massive piles of neon blue ice.

Sunset at Stearns Beach on a Thursday

Falling

A lone tree in a farm field stands out in any season, but especially during the heart of winter. Fields with lone trees are common throughout the Point to Point area. Besides adding beauty, many of them have provided shade for up to a century or more of both farmers and farm animals.

This view from high atop Big Point Sable Lighthouse shows the layers of dunes and forest between Lake Michigan and Hamlin Lake and reveals the vastness and beauty of the remote northern area of Ludington State Park. Brad and I climbed to the top of the lighthouse on an early November morning and sat in the dark, anxiously awaiting sunrise. The light and atmosphere that appeared was well worth the chilly wait.

Chuck Wagon pizza is one of the main icons of Ludington. I told owner Rick Chapman we couldn't do a 365 Project without including a photograph of Chuck Wagon. Zach Gipe, one of my previous students when I was an elementary school teacher, was eager to throw some dough for my photograph. F2.8 at 1/60, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 23 mm

The lookout on M22 between Elberta and Arcadia is one of our favorite spots to stop and look for photographs of Lake Michigan. On this particularly windy day, I hiked to the top of the tall flight of stairs to photograph from the stable platform at the top. It was worth the hike.

This morning I photographed McLaren Lake near Hesperia at sunrise. I loved seeing the sunlight shining through the top of the trees and mixing with the fog.

After careful risk assessment, my son Brad has worked his way to the top of one of the tallest mounds of ice piled high in the Straits of Mackinac. He is determined to make a close-up image of one of the nature-made ice sculptures with the Mackinac Bridge as the backdrop. Knowing from my many years of ice rescue training in the Coast Guard that "no ice is safe ice," I am standing by with an assortment of ice rescue gear to assist if necessary.

365 Week 07

Let the Sunlight In

Finding the Angles