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“Bad” weather days can quickly change into a photographer’s dream. First, I spent more than an hour on this rainy day working to make good images of Marquette Harbor Lighthouse. Then “magic light” broke out beneath the clouds near sundown and lit the lighthouse and trees like Christmas. Just before sunset, sunlight bounced off from clouds cast a diffused, soft golden light on the lighthouse, McCarty’s Cove shoreline, and Lake Superior. I love “bad” weather.

The graphic view in front of me at the entrance to St. Joseph Harbor reminds me of those perspective drawings we learned to make in grade school. Everything appears smaller as it recedes into the scene. Shooting the sailboat at just this spot in its voyage makes all the lines and imaginary lines line up in triangular fashion. F10 at 1/400, ISO 800, 80-200mm lens at 130mm

The beach at Little Sable Point looks like ice cream swirls today. Wind and waves and sand have worked together to create one of the most unique natural artworks I have ever encountered on a Lake Michigan beach. Little Sable Point Lighthouse and autumn clouds provide an appropriately beautiful backdrop. F32 at 1/125, ISO 400, 24-70mm lens at 24mm

Fall Color on US 41 Near Copper Harbor

Over thousands of years, wind driven sand has polished smooth millions of stones along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The flat-sided stones are called ventifacts. I made this photograph near the Big Point Sable Lighthouse while on a hike to the northern boundary of the Ludington State Park.

I stood in one spot on a dune above the beach in Pentwater while waiting over an hour for the magic light to appear. In that time, I used a spherical perspective to imagine what different compositions would be in nearby locations. I knew that once the light appeared, I would try to make one of my shots from the water's edge and would have to lie on my stomach to capture it. My previsualization paid off. In two minutes, I made four strong images from four different spots that were all within 40 yards of my original spot on top of the dune.

Workshop at Ludington State Park

Epic Manistee Blast

Wagner Falls Near Munising

My large telephoto lens exaggerated the mirage I was seeing as I watched a lower laker pass by Ludington today from Stearns Beach. This ship appears to be hovering in the sky just above the water line. Cameras do lie!

The 112-foot-high Big Point Sable Lighthouse towers over the shoreline and forest in this November 4 view from the Ridge Trail. A giant white pine provides a counterpoint for the composition I had envisioned weeks earlier before the color peaked.

This is one of the lifeboats from the City of Flint 32. The City of Flint 32 was one of the many past carferries that put Ludington on the map when this port had the largest carferry fleet in the world. F5.0 at 1/125, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 18 mm

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

Morning Light on Lost Lake

Grand Traverse Lighthouse

Magic Light in Manistee

Wagner Falls Near Munising

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.

I have never been good at painting, but if I were, this is the kind of art I would try to create with a paintbrush. I thank God my dad helped me discover my inner artist with a camera. I also thank God for creating the Pere Marquette River. My family has spent our lives on or near the internationally-known water system.