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As I could see the northern lights with my naked eyes dancing in the background, I knew they would be reflected in the strangely calm Sauble River near the outlet into Lake Michigan. The three minute exposure captured the beauty I was experiencing. Nikon D850. F2.8 at 188 seconds, ISO 400. 14-24mm lens at 24mm. On a tripod without a flash. March 20, 2021.

Legends Ranch

Northern Lights

Northern Lights

Mystic Phenomenon - Vertical

Mystic Phenomenon

Epworth Lights

On the walk back from Big Sable Point Lighthouse around 12:40am on Sunday, May 12th, my dad, Ethan, and I turned around and finally saw the northern lights show we had been waiting for all evening. The pillars shot straight up from the ground to above our heads. It was unbelievably bright and visible to the naked eye. Of course, the camera sees the colors even better than we do. This shot was just before the pillars shrank and disappeared. This is my dad’s photograph.

Hamlin Lake Workshop and Northern Lights

Hamlin Lake Workshop and Northern Lights Panoramic

The Holiday Inn Express in Munising, Michigan has become our home away from home when we are photographing in the Upper Peninsula. Thanks to a Facebook alert on my cell phone, I knew the northern lights might appear in the middle of the night. Every hour I got out of bed and went out on the porch of our hotel room to check. At around 4:50 a.m., I could see the lights over Grand Island. I set up my camera and tripod and made this image. In a few short hours my dad and I would be hiking across the ice to photograph the caves on Grand Island.

After an incredibly long and hard day of hiking and shooting photographs on Isle Royale, at around 11:30 p.m., my dad and I decided to take a chance and make the short hike to Tobin Harbor to see if the northern lights were out. To our surprise, we could see them as soon as we got onto the seaplane docks. We needed to set up quickly to ensure we got good images before midnight so we could use them in our new Wednesdays book. I knew from past experience I needed a 15-minute exposure. Multiple loons and at least two moose were calling back and forth over the water.

When Julia, Ethan, and I walked outside of my brother and sister-in-law's house after a pre-Christmas family gathering, Ethan commented on how clear the sky was. We hopped in my truck and drove to the North Bayou of Hamlin Lake to get a clearer view of the Milky Way. Standing there, looking up at the million stars above our heads, I felt so blessed to have such a tight family connection here on Earth.

Last night after I got done watching a movie at the theater, I drove out to the First Curve on M116 at the Ludington State Park to see if the Northern Lights were out. I knew they had been out the night before, but the clouds were so thick in our area, you couldn't get a good photo of them. The application, Aurora Forecast, that I use on my iPhone, was measuring a level 5 on the KP scale. Usually at a level 5, you can see a tiny bit of color with a trained eye and some of the white pillars if they are out, but your camera will pick up the color much better. Standing in the parking lot of the First Curve, I could see the white pillars, but no color. It took me a few minutes to get my boots, warm clothes, headlamp, and hat on and to get my camera pre-set at the truck. I hustled up the small dune to the north of where I parked with my camera and tripod and this was the first exposure I made. It turned out to be the best shot of the night because the light show was short lived. The red light in the foreground is from a car's headlights as it was approaching from behind me at the very end of the exposure. I was fired up to say the least.

While my son Brad was focusing on Northern Lights over Big Sable Point Lighthouse, I have concentrated my attention on the Milky Way decorating the Aurora sky.

Northern Lights

When I made this image of Northern Lights on October 24, 2011, I was the lone photographer on the Ludington South Breakwater. In recent years, since the advent of Facebook and cell phone apps to alert photographers to the presence of Aurora Borealis, or the potential for them to appear, I am seldom alone whenever I travel to the Lake Michigan shoreline to attempt to catch a light show.

Northern Lights At Big Sable Point

One of my ultimate dreams in photography has been to capture the Northern Lights with my camera. On Dec. 14, 2006, my dream was realized. Around 8:30 pm I trekked to the top of a large dune within Ludington State Park. Five minutes later, the entire evening sky over Lake Michigan erupted into a bright red and green palette of color. As I was exposing this photograph, two large meteors blazed through the sky. The rush of emotions I felt that night were overwhelming.

I made this image of the northern lights last night while standing next to my dad on a tall dune near the Beach House inside the Ludington State Park. The lights were barely visible for several hours, but they erupted for less than one minute near midnight. I have never seen as many stars in the sky as I did that night.