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Not Lost Anymore

Still so dark the stars were brilliant in dawn’s earliest light, I made this image of a portion of the Island Trail at Ludington State Park while my son Brad was demonstrating to our photography workshop students how much detail and color cameras could record. We both made 30-second exposures. I was very pleased with how my tripod-mounted Nikon D850 rendered the scene.

The symmetry of this tiny Hamlin Lake island at Ludington State Park has caught my eye for several years. I tried many times to make a photograph that portrayed its symmetry in a special way. At last, one spring day Mother Nature provided the perfect atmosphere. The island was barely visible in the early morning mist. I composed a picture, set up the tripod and waited. Soon the island emerged out of the mist just enough to appear extraordinary. The view made my entire day extraordinarily great.

My dad is fond of saying, "Clouds are your friends!" This photograph is all about the quality of the light that is bouncing off the clouds and onto the water.

Workshop at Ludington State Park

Lincoln River in Front of Rods Shack

Generally, to make a powerful grand scenic photograph, you need a strong foreground, middle ground, and background. The trick is to get the three separate layers of the photograph to overlap in a way that the viewer's mind will not get bored and "leave" the photograph. You want to encourage the viewer's eye to move all around the photograph. The viewer will also tend to have a greater emotional interest in the piece of art.

One of the concepts my son Brad and I emphasize to our photography students is framing. Using something in the foreground to frame or partially frame an image provides immediacy, depth and added interest elements. I framed this shot shortly after sunrise at the beginning of November along the Lost Lake Trail.

I photographed Ludington State Park for several hours on a glorious January morning after the biggest snowfall of the winter. Then it occurred to me that a spot where I had taken a photograph of fall color might also look spectacular in winter. A half-hour of hiking later, I was making this picture. The two shots show how places that are beautiful in one season may well be beautiful in another.

Ludington State Park

Workshop at Ludington State Park

Workshop at Ludington State Park

Ludington State Park May Workshop

Island Trail Sunrise

Underwater Lincoln River

Fast Sunrise

I am blessed to have a large family and a lot of roots in Mason County. Today I was exploring some land that one of my family members owns on the Lincoln River.