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En route from Fremont to Walkerville, Brad and I discover this old house that is slowly but surely returning to the earth. As aged and deteriorated as the structure is, it somehow retains a certain grace and dignity that appeals to both Brad and me.

Eagles in Muskegon

This winter was brutal on the wildlife in Michigan. A friendly, hungry deer walked right up to me looking for a handout of food at Ludington State Park today. If I'd had food, I know it would have eaten right out of my hand.

It would appear that a huff and a puff might blow down this old barn southeast of Walkerville, Michigan. And yet I wonder how many years the wooden structure has leaned eastward without collapsing.

Legend of Kitch-Iti-Kipi

My dad taught me as a young boy that if you see an excellent sunrise to the east in Michigan to make sure to turn around and look at the sky in the west. I was blessed with a great teacher! The Ludington North Breakwater Light was glowing this morning with a pink and blue backdrop.

The tops of these trees inside of Stearns Park have been intriguing me for weeks. I finally made an image of them today that I am happy with. The lines and patterns make me happy.

I can’t imagine how many shots of songbirds I have taken in 50 years, but I can unequivocally say this is by far my favorite and most artistic. The moment this male cardinal, in all its glory, landed in this spot, I realized this was the perfect bird in the perfect position in the perfect place at the perfect time. The bright red bird rocketed out of the monochromatic background of the rocks and fresh snow. I couldn’t have designed or painted a better background. Click. Mission accomplished, not because making that image was my objective; it wasn’t. I got out early that morning because of the gorgeous blanket of snow that had fallen overnight. I drove to Ludington State Park and hiked across the foot bridge to the far side of the Sable River and found a spot to hide myself, my tripod, my Nikon camera and 500-millimeter telephoto lens amidst some young pine in hopes of catching some shots of a mink or two coming out of an opening in the rocks as I had observed on a previous hike. Just as I had anticipated, a mink soon emerged. I was all set to capture the moment the mink’s splendid coat would be framed against the snow. Photographers dream of what wildlife might do. As in this case, sometimes you can even visualize the finished picture on the wall. But of course it is up to the wildlife to decide for themselves where and how they present themselves and the course they will travel. We can’t pose them. For more than two hours I watched mink occasionally come out and go back in. Never did one of them set foot in the snow. I was getting more frustrated and colder by the minute. Suddenly a cardinal flew in. Fortunately, my camera was already trained and focused on the spot because cardinals almost never stay still for more than a few seconds. Because I chose to get off the couch, because I got out early to take advantage of the fresh snow, because I had paid my dues spending a lot of time at the park, because I had previously seen the mink along the river in that location, and because I overcame the great disappointment of the lack of cooperation from the mink, because I stayed, I made a completely unexpected but better image that will be most pleasing to me for the rest of my life. Many of my favorite images did not come easy. That makes them especially rewarding.

The Hamlin Lake Dam at Ludington State Park is so cool. I especially love photographing the dam in the winter months and seeing the different ice formations. The mix of straight lines and curved lines in this scene is what caught my attention today. F6.3 at 1/320, ISO 640, 18-50 mm lens at 50 mm

Standing inside this 50-foot-tall ice cave on Grand Island, I had the strangest feeling I had been there before. With the warm sun and an occasional water droplet hitting my face, I felt like I was at a new beginning in my life. It was a spiritual moment for me.

Is this one horse or two? I usually make certain to avoid mergers when I am making a photographic image, but this one is irresistible. While scouting for pictures in Hamlin Township, I spot a horse with incredibly beautiful eyes. As I am preparing to make this shot, a second horse ambles into the frame. I am laughing as I trip the shutter.

A water drop is about to fall from a small branch and my macro lens made an ordinary scene look extraordinary.

Victim of an eroding Lake Michigan shoreline, a tree uprooted years earlier is transformed into a snow sculpture on a dune at Epworth Heights north of Ludington. Finding scenes like this along the Lake Michigan shoreline confirms for me why I am a winter person. Winter is a photographer's friend.

I like to call it the "Marne Barn" because I am always on the lookout for it when I pass by it on I-96 west of Marne. The Mart Egan & Sons barn is one of the prettiest, best kept barns in Michigan. On this snowy day I felt compelled to get off the freeway at Marne and find my way there to photograph it.

After traveling nearly 300 miles today photo hunting on a mostly gray day, experience tells me the sun may peak out as it approaches the horizon. I head to Ludington State Park and take up position on one of the tallest dunes on the shoreline. Sure enough, 20 minutes before sunset, the sun starts finding its way through cloud openings.

Mirror of Heaven

A large farm near the border of Mason and Oceana Counties looks like the skyline view of Chicago over Lake Michigan. I can’t stop my truck quick enough to make this image.

My son Brad and I teach that 90 percent of a good outdoor photograph is about the light and or atmosphere. Three videographers were with me on a late January early evening that could best be described as gray on the emotional scale. They probably wondered why I was stopping along this country road with it getting so dark. However, I instantly saw, looking at Cherry Hill Farm, that the soft snowfall was creating a painterly, Christmas-card atmosphere that I could previsualize much brighter. A longer exposure would do just that but I needed the snowflakes to remain relatively distinct. Adding to my challenge, I wanted as much of the scene sharp as possible. The solution was to raise my ISO (digital sensor sensitivity speed) to a fast 3200, which allowed me to shoot at a relatively fast shutter speed (1/100th second) and still maintain a medium depth of field (f9). All I had to do now was slap down the tripod, mount the camera and trip the shutter. I have studied and photographed our Conrad Road neighbors’ farm for years. This image is one of my wintertime favorites

Like a coating of white feathers, frost decorates sumac branches on a dune overlooking the Sable River Outlet at Ludington State Park. This February scene is the polar opposite of those hot summer days when the Lake Michigan tributary and its banks abound with swimmers and sunbathers. Sable River Outlet is one of the most picturesque spots on Lake Michigan in any season.

We found an old garage on the south side of Muskegon with a roof that created the American flag out of shingles. It was the coolest roof that I have ever seen. Someday I would love to do this on my garage.