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Carferry and Ludington Light

Some trees look almost human as they strike individual poses against the landscape. I was photo hunting in Victory Township, northeast of Ludington, when this tree and the atmosphere surrounding it caught my eye.

On Sunday afternoons, Betsy and I often take the kids for a Sunday Drive. I enjoy driving around looking for photographs and spending quality time with my family. Today, just as we were ending our drive for the day, Betsy pointed out an orange cat on the roof of an apartment house in Ludington. I love this photograph. F10.0 at 1/640, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 50 mm

An immature bald eagle soars directly overhead as I hike a trail through the dunes near the Sable River at Ludington State Park. The bird circles over me, seemingly checking me out, or is it just searching for breakfast? Either way, I am grateful for the close-up view.

Grand Island Ice Caves

After the Super Bowl last night, I decided to stay the night in Silver Lake at the hotel with Julia, Ethan, and the gang. On my drive back to Ludington this morning, I had to pull off the road and climb the observation tower near the corner of Conrad and Old US-31 in order to photograph the awesome clouds and colorful sunrise.

I have a passion for photographing ice. The abstract shapes and the contrast of tones make for great images. I discovered this scene along the Lake Michigan shoreline in the middle of February. It is one of my favorite photographs.

I have appreciated these grasses for several years in the Pere Marquette River Flats near the former city dump site. They look splendid to me tonight rising above the marsh, backlit by the setting sun. I am glad I took this route home after a long day teaching photography at West Shore Community College. F11.0 at 1/200, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 86 mm

Was Superman born here? That is what I kept asking myself as I stood in wonder looking at the glorious ice caves on Grand Island near Munising, Michigan. The colors and formations were like nothing I had ever seen. They did not look real and it is hard to get a sense of scale from this photograph of how large these caves actually are.

One of the highest dunes in Ludington State Park offers a bird's eye view of one of the forests tucked between dune ridges at the park. Lake Michigan lies beyond as I look west.

Driving towards Ludington this morning, I knew that I had missed the color that the sunrise brought, but the clouds in the sky were superb! With the calm morning, they would reflect in the water. I headed towards the Pere Marquette River Flats to quickly compose my shot. I didn’t know that Brad had shot near here almost an hour earlier. Such beauty in God’s work!

 

I love taking giant scale photos that show vast scenes, but I have also disciplined myself more to see details, to move closer, then (as I tell my photography students) twice as close again. This shows less of a scene, but reveals more detail, allowing me to see and show what is often overlooked. One winter morning, going to a grand vista at Epworth Heights to view Lake Michigan, the window of an old garage caught my eye. It is an unanticipated detail that often makes the best picture.

One of my favorite parts of winter is looking for patterns in the ice along Lake Michigan. I found this ice formation at the Loomis Street Boat Launch around 5:45 this evening, just as the sun was setting. F14.0 at 1/500, ISO 500, 18-50 mm lens at 18 mm

I love viewing wildlife through natural vignettes. It gives me the feeling of looking through a peep sight and provides framing and layers to my pictures. I have to be careful not to crowd the deer with the framing as I "shoot" her with my camera at the Sable River Outlet at the Ludington State Park.

Clouds are your friends! This is a great example of a sunset that would have been super boring and unphotogenic if it wasn’t for the beautiful clouds.

It is amazing to me how often mirages or double images of the shoreline will appear throughout a given year. As I stood on the docks at the Sable Resort overlooking frozen Hamlin Lake, I noticed that the Hamlin Dunes were being reflected onto themselves near the waterline. As I was photographing, the sun appeared and turned the sky a brilliant gold color and the mirage looked even more mysterious.

 

Oh, to experience another winter morning as stunning as this. I love below-zero mornings; the sky is usually crystal-clear and the morning light brilliant. But I never imagined the beauty that would await me at the Sable River Outlet this February morning. Steam coming off the water at sunrise had turned the grass to shimmering white shafts on the dune south of the outlet.

I am drawn to the Pere Marquette Lake side of the sculpture "Reflections" where the side and back lighting provided by its floodlights play beautifully upon the metal sail of the sculpture. I love studying this simple yet amazing sculpture donated by Lee and Joan Schoenherr to the city's waterfront sculpture park. F10.0 at 30.0, ISO 100, 12-24 mm lens at 19 mm