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It is a dark, rainy September day but I keep reminding myself we are always preaching to our photography workshop students that bad weather is good weather for photographers. I just have to find the good. From my truck, the apples trees in a Mason County orchard do not look attractive. But when I move 20 times closer and throw in a little light from my truck headlights, these apples look better than candy apples at a country fair.

Nikon D850. F8 at 1/6400. 60-600mm lens at 600mm. June 7, 2020 at 5:28pm.

Hammer Down

The sand dunes at Big Point Sable were formed several thousand years ago. Wind and water have been changing them ever since. I took this aerial photograph more than 20 years ago, when rising Lake Michigan water levels were threatening to wash Big Point Sable Lighthouse away. Most of the ponds visible between dunes in this scene were dry when I last explored this region.

Like a picture out of its past, Big Point Sable Lighthouse keepers' quarters glow with lights, as they did when operated by the Coast Guard until the 1970s. Volunteers now occupy the dwelling, conducting tours and working on maintenance and restoration. Another time exposure of Big Sable Light at night was part of the first photo story I ever shot, for a photography class in college in 1969.

Water and foam swirl together on the Sable River to form a beautiful sea horse.

While taking back roads up to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore tonight, we drove by this old McCormick-Deering tractor. I had my dad turn the Suburban around so I could hop out and make this photograph. Both the tractor and the massive old maple tree are timeless beauties. I wonder which one is older? F10 at 1/125, ISO 400, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

In order to help protect this beautiful piebald deer, my dad and I have sworn not to tell people where we found it. We had received a tip from a family friend, and after almost two hours of searching for this elusive animal, we were getting ready to give up. Suddenly, I spotted it about 75 yards away in the woods. It wasn't until I downloaded this image and saw it on my 30-inch monitor that I noticed the other two deer in the scene. Our perseverance and teamwork paid off.

Like the thousands of other people packing downtown Ludington on New Year's Eve, I am overwhelmed with excitement and a sense of community spirit as the giant ball touches down to mark the start of 2010. The ball drop is one of the coolest events in the history of Ludington, both literally and figuratively speaking. F4.0 at 1/10, ISO 1600, 12-24 mm lens at 12 mm

I tend to prefer sharp light and haze-free skies at sunset. But I have learned that the softness and toned-down colors of a hazy sky sunset sometimes look and feel better.

While Brad and I were photographing Michigan every Wednesday of 2014 for our book, Todd and Brad Reed’s Michigan: Wednesdays in the Mitten, I traveled to Mackinaw City on Tuesday, February 11, to scout out and be ready to shoot book images early the next morning. I wished this image I made that Tuesday evening in the Straits of Mackinac as the moon was rising would have appeared in front of my camera Wednesday so it could have been included in the Wednesdays book. It took seven years, but my Straits creation finally made its way into a book.

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.

Point Aux Barques Guardian

I could think of no better way to start 2020 than by celebrating New Year’s in downtown Ludington. By hanging out the upstairs window of our gallery as far as I could with my camera on a tripod, I was able to make this image of the New Year’s ball drop.

PM 41 Barge

Workshop at Ludington State Park

Snowy Owl

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.

Small items in nature can have a large impact on the surrounding area, both physically and visually. These leaves were the only spot of color on a vast dune at the Ludington State Park.