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A few minutes before making this image, my dad and I were forced back into the truck by pouring rain while photographing the Croton Dam. We decided to head toward Grand Rapids, but out of nowhere, the rain changed to a slight drizzle and the sun started shining. The earth around us lit up with electric light. We quickly spotted this tree and pulled off the road to make this image. Many of the leaves had large dark spots on them, but they still looked perfect to me.

It is a glorious morning and I am blessed to be traveling M22 today looking for fall color pictures and anything else that catches my photographic eye. Just north of Onekama I turn off the highway and find myself with a spectacular birds eye view of beautiful Portage Lake.

Tuesdays With Todd and Brad Reed

For some reason this photograph reminds me of The Wizard of Oz. This farm on the way to Grand Rapids looks like it has survived a few big storms over the years. Shortly after I made this image, a large thunderstorm struck.

Male whitetail deer in the fall will do the dumbest things when they are looking for love. I was able to crawl on my hands and knees within 30 yards of this small four-point buck. I just acted like another invading buck. I stomped the ground, grunted, and lifted my head up and down as I slowly made my approach. Just before I made this photograph, a female whitetail deer came down from the ridge and got this guy's attention.

It is no secret to my friends and family I loathe and despise spiders. This morning as I was photographing this grass in front of P.M. Steamers restaurant in Ludington, I noticed the grass looked like spider legs. Did I mention that I despise spiders?

 

I have so much respect for the men and women who have served or are serving in the United States military. We will never forget!

 

 

Yesterday my dad and I stood on the north shore of Grand Haven for almost six hours and photographed during the storm. The waves were running 15 feet with an occasional 18-footer. This was the largest wave we saw all day hit the lighthouse and it was well over 20 feet tall. The spray went over 100 feet in the air. I named the photo "Fuel Injected" because after shooting, on the drive back home to Ludington last night, my dad said that having all that wind in his face for so long made him feel alive and fuel injected.

Dramatic Falls - Black and White

I did not have time to get my underwater camera housing water tight, so I made a quick decision to leave it in the truck and grab my normal Nikon D800. I ran down the beach to the water's edge and started shooting. I knew to get the image I really wanted I needed to get into Lake Michigan with my camera. I took a calculated risk and put my camera and tripod head just above the surface of Lake Michigan and waited for a breaking wave to crash just below my camera. With a 0.6 second exposure and my detached flash set to rear sync, I was able to make the image I had envisioned.

Dramatic Falls

The Hartwick Pines State Park is one of Michigan's best-kept secrets. Located near Grayling, the park is full of pine trees that are several hundred years old. The park also has a log cabin style chapel that is open year round. With no electricity or heat, the chapel is often fairly dark inside and also cold in the winter. With my camera on a tripod, I overexposed this image to blow out the highlights so the cross would appear to be glowing. I also used my external flash to light up the Nature's Prayer below the cross.

Intense Emotion

Hammer Down

A salmon leaps halfway up a wall of cascading water at the Hamlin Dam. Thousands of salmon return to the Sable River each fall to spawn and to die. I love watching the powerful fish try in vain to leap to the top of the dam, which holds back the fish that work their way upstream on one side and holds back the waters of Hamlin Lake on the other.

The sand along the Lake Michigan shoreline looks like liquid gold tonight. It is incredible how a late September sunset can transform the appearance of the waterfront.