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A first glance, this photo appears like it might have been shot at the Grand Island Ice Caves or some other large ice formation. However, it is actually only a few feet off the ice shoreline at Point Betsie Lighthouse. I lay down on my side and put my camera directly on the ice and by getting super close to the formation with a wide-angle lens, I could make it appear much larger than it was.

I feel the spirit of these woods at Hartwick Pines State Park so strongly I am compelled to make an annual pilgrimage to Grayling to revere this place as much as to photograph it. Some of these native white pines tower 300 feet over my head. The view from lying on the ground at the base of one of these monsters is priceless.

A simple composition can be a strong composition. I liked the framing around the sun by the branches of these trees. You don’t always have to include the entire tree in your image, your brain will complete the missing parts.

For me, being out in nature is a way to get close to God. Looking out at the woods from inside the log chapel at Hartwick Pines State Park is a more obvious way for me to find God in nature. Being at Hartwick Pines to take in the snowy woods when no one else is here enhances the experience. My favorite poet, Robert Frost, would have loved being here today. I think he might have had similar feelings about this special Michigan place.

Barn Birds Berries Audobon

So many birch trees in Michigan have fallen victim to disease that I appreciate finding any of them still standing in the woodlands. These birch trees were standing tall along Hamlin Lake.

Norwalk Lutheran Church has long been one of my favorite photography muses. I have studied the country church for years, knowing that one day I would be able to make a good image. On this snowy day the country church between Manistee and Bear Lake looked picture perfect. After making some storytelling images that included automobiles passing by on US31, I decided to make this simpler image without any vehicles. I have learned over the years that often less is more.

Spouting Offshore

Legends Ranch Buck in Snow

Watching more and more of the birch trees in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula die from disease and disappear makes me sad. So much beauty lost. This stand of birch still looked attractive when I discovered them along a country road in 2004. When I returned several years later, they were all dead and disappearing. I am grateful for the opportunity to have seen them when they were still alive

Last night after work I tried to go visit my friend Jamie Spore, but she was still not home after several weeks of medical issues stemming from her spina bifida. When I texted her to inform her I was down at the end of Ludington Avenue and that I was going to shoot the sunset for her. Little did I know that it would turn into one of the best sunsets I had ever seen. This one is for you, Jamie!

With antlers like these, this massive bull elk is unlikely to find challengers. His appearance leaves no doubt he is the dominant elk of the herd at Amber Elk Ranch between Scottville and Ludington. Visitors to the ranch go on wagon rides during which they can literally touch elk. Michigan boasts dozens of game ranches and domestic animal petting farms.

So many of Michigan's beach trees are dying because of disease. This giant one just off Nurnberg Road in the Manistee National Forest may not have many years left, but today it looks like the king of the forest.

After checking out and photographing a beautiful winter view from one side of a bridge over the Platte River south of Honor, I shift to the opposite side and am greeted by this even more splendid view of one of Michigan's most beautiful streams.

I have loved this barn in Hart since the days I first saw it as a young boy riding along with my dad on his truck as he delivered Budweiser, Drewrys and Pfeiffer's beer to the nearby Walker's tavern. Today the barn looks picture perfect. F16.0 at 1/125, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 145 mm

365 Week 12

October 25 2013

Mild Winter

Todd Reed