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Aerial photo of PM River with fall color.

Calm water, geese, fog, and a colorful sunrise are common ingredients in outdoor photography. When you combine all four of them in one photograph, you have a recipe for success.

The Duck Lake Watershed along US31 near Interlochen has long been in my mental diary of views that could make a good picture on the right day. Today, with a fresh blanket of snow and light snow falling, it finally looks picture perfect.

Workshop at Ludington State Park

As another photo hunting day dawned, I was searching along the shores of Hamlin Lake for a winter picture when I spotted a patch of open water. Some Canada geese and mute swans had already found one of the only unfrozen spots on the huge lake.

Workshop at Ludington State Park

Fall is a nice time of year to shoot sunrises because you don't have to get out of bed as early to catch the first light of day. The best light to photograph a sunrise often appears 20 minutes before the sun actually appears on the horizon. I made this photograph at Lost Lake during one of our "Picture Perfect Weekend" Workshops. Several of our students made equally compelling photographs.

I have long wanted to make a picture at this spot along the Betsie River near Crystal Mountain Resort. This is a perfect morning; nothing to it but to stop life's express train and do it. F11.0 at 1.0, ISO 400, 12-24 mm lens at 22 mm

Ludington State Park Workshop

Sunset on Hamlin Lake

I made this image during one of our Advanced Weekend Photo Workshops. Michigan State was playing Michigan and it was towards the end of the game. Several photo students were listening to the game on their cell phones. I wanted to listen, but the light and clouds were getting so good that I knew it was "game time" for me to shoot. I got the shot, but better yet, Michigan State had one of the best comebacks of the entire year to win the game on the last play. Go Green!

Clyde Butcher continues to teach people all over the world that swamps are beautiful. He photographs the Everglades in Florida and has done more to save the Everglades than any politician. His photographs move people emotionally and that emotion is what is spurring the action to save the Everglades. Today I am photographing a swamp near the Eastmanville Bayou along the Grand River.

Ludington State Park Island Trail at Sunrise (4905)

Water Colors

Our friends Dave and Chrissy Hall, lifelong visitors and supporters of the Ludington State Park, graciously offered to take my dad and me in their airplane to photograph aerial views of the park and its surroundings. On a clear May evening in 2007, I made this photo from several thousand feet in the air. The photograph clearly shows the Lake Michigan shoreline, the Sable River, all of Hamlin Lake, Big Point Sable Lighthouse, the Nordhouse Dunes, part of the Manistee National Forest and the entire Ludington State Park.

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

Birdseye View of Hamlin Lake

Our assistant manager, Rachel Gaudette, lives very close to Ford Lake in the eastern part of Mason County. For several years, she has been telling my dad and me to shoot a sunrise over her lake. Today, I finally took her advice and was blown away by the gorgeous sunrise that erupted.

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

Every summer, my mom and family rent a cabin near an inlet on Hamlin Lake named Indian Pete Bayou. All year I look forward to spending time with the family around the camp fire and photographing Hamlin Lake. My family and I have witnessed many great sunsets from this particular spot, but this was one of the best.