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I followed this immature bald eagle in my truck all the way from the Sable River at Ludington State Park to just south of the First Curve on M116. The beautiful young creature finally came to rest near the top of some trees between Epworth and Lincoln Hills. The eagle definitely had a bird's eye view of the world from atop the blowing trees.

Manistee Christmas Parade

Shoup Family Farm Weldon Creek Farms

Sometimes the simplest pictures are the best. At first I found myself looking and hoping for the presence of a duck or other added ingredient to this scene. The more I look, the more I see and appreciate the understated beauty of this stretch of the Pere Marquette River. F22.0 at 1/6, ISO 100, 300 mm lens at 300 mm

The ice breaking tugboat Manitou was called into Ludington's port this week to attempt opening a path so other vessels could get back out onto Lake Michigan. I watched this small tug work for over an hour to get about a thousand feet. To my surprise, the mighty little ship made it out to open water.

After I waited over an hour for this immature bald eagle to fly, it finally took flight and headed the wrong direction. Luckily I was using my 600mm F4 Nikkor lens with a 1.4 teleconverter on my new Nikon D7000 camera body so I could still show a little detail of this young raptor as it looked for food along the shores of Lake Michigan. F6.3 at 1/8000, 6400 ISO, 600mm lens at 840mm

Lights Over the Hamlin Dunes

Four Carferries

 I'm not a fan of the cold. I actually really dislike it. What I do love though is shooting. I will withstand freezing cold temperatures and wind chill, if it means I can get my camera in my hand and experience the beauty that surrounds me. To some it's fun to shoot when the weathers great, but to me, I long to shoot through it all!

Dwarfed by the forest, a cross-country skier glides silently along the Logging Trail on one of those winter days that winter lovers live for. I have skied the Logging Trail so many times I have memorized the views that will greet me over the next hill or around the next curve. Yet I never tire of my Logging Trail journeys. There is something comforting about knowing a place. It is a feeling like home.

I am a total creature of habit. When I am out driving around looking for photographs, I have realized that I always drive to the same places and take the same roads. Today I forced myself to find a road I had never been down. This scene was a great surprise when I turned east on Jagger Road off of Jebavy Drive. F22.0 at 0.4, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 35 mm

A setting full moon greets us as Brad and I wait for dawn's early light. The light of the moon should give us a jump on spotting a snowy owl we know is hanging out in a West Michigan field.

Red pine trees are known for growing tall and straight in Michigan but one or more severe windstorms has obviously impacted this forest near Free Soil, Michigan. Many of the trees have been left bent to varying degrees. F10 at 1/500, ISO 800, 80-200mm lens at 200mm

Winter Workshop

Participants in one of our advanced photography weekend workshops were in photography heaven when Mother Nature blasted the woodlands with snow overnight. We didn’t have far to go to find good pictures. This was the view within a couple hundred yards of the workshop’s basecamp–Jim and Carole Smith’s Hamlin Lake lodge cottage on the border of the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness. While assisting Carole and other photographers in making photographs of their choice, I was attracted to the way the snow had “painted” this big tree trunk and the smaller trees surrounding it.

Since I was a young child, I have been fascinated by the carferries and other large ships that traffic Ludington Harbor. This statue of a mariner stands tall and proud, very much like the ship captains I have been privileged to know.

Maple trees planted when horse and buggy traveled a country lane now tower over anything or anyone passing their way. The stretch of Decker Road, between Ludington and Scottville, is one of the few country roadways in the area that remain more of a lane a road. Because of its natural look and the magnificent maples, it has long been one of my favorite spots to drive through and to photograph.

This 365 project presents many challenges. Among them is being limited to selecting just one image per day. I photographed this same snow-laden dock along the Pere Marquette River a couple days ago but opted for a different image as my final selection for that day. I am so pleased it looks just as intriguing to me this morning. F22.0 at 0.6, ISO 100, 300 mm lens at 300 mm

A diseased tree had split in half about four feet up from the ground and a bird made a beautiful little nest in the remaining top of the stump. I put my 14mm wide-angle lens extremely close to the nest. This photograph was taken close up yet does not look like a typical close-up. With a wide-angle lens, if you do not get very close to the subject, the subject will look tiny and the photograph will often lack emotional impact.