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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.

Workshop at Ludington State Park

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

I am obsessed with photographing water ripples. Some day we hope to do an entire book of these abstract ripple shots. Blue is my favorite color and I love how many different shades of blue appear in this photograph. The sky tonight was bright blue and had tons of huge white puffy clouds that reflected on the calm waters of Lake Michigan as we stood at the elbow of the breakwall in Ludington with several workshop students. Fuji S5. F2.8 at 1/400, ISO 100. 70-200mm lens at 200mm. On a tripod without a flash. July 2, 2009 at 7:51pm.

One of the best parts of my job is that I am always meeting new people. My wife, Betsy, my dad and I trekked to the Big Point Sable Lighthouse on a long summer evening. Upon arrival, we were greeted by volunteer lighthouse keepers outside working on the grounds. They generously offered to turn on all of the interior and exterior lights. My dad climbed a dune to shoot from the south, while Betsy and I walked down the beach a few hundred yards to shoot from the north. To our surprise, we found a perfect reflection of the lighthouse in a storm pool. This shot would not have been possible without the help of the lighthouse keepers and for that I am very grateful.

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.

I am obsessed with photographing water ripples. Some day we hope to do an entire book of these abstract ripple shots. Blue is my favorite color and I love how many different shades of blue appear in this photograph. The sky tonight was bright blue and had tons of huge white puffy clouds that reflected on the calm waters of Lake Michigan as we stood at the elbow of the breakwall in Ludington with several workshop students.

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.

Pentwater

Ludington State Park Workshop

PM 41 Barge

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

With a foreground this beautiful, why not make it the subject and let the foghorn building and lighthouse at Point Betsie Light Station serve as the background? One of the most important questions a photographer should ask is, "What exactly is exciting to me about this scene?" Answer that and then emphasize it. That was the mental process that has led me to this composition.

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

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.

The original Coast Guard icebreaker Mackinaw busts a path into Ludington harbor for the carferry City of Midland on February 18, 1977, after the Midland became mired in ice just outside the harbor entrance during one of the coldest winters in decades. I scrambled over huge ice mounds in making my way all the way out the breakwater to the Ludington lighthouse to have a close-up vantage from which to make this image. The Mackinaw helped keep Great Lakes shipping lanes open for 62 years before being decommissioned in 2006 when the replacement Mackinaw went into service.

The tugboat John Henry circles the Badger to help the 410-foot carferry battle its way out of Ludington harbor against wind-driven ice packed tight from surface to lake bottom. This dramatic scene unfolded in front of my camera during the winter of 1989 as the big ship was battling the ice to ferry another load of railroad cars from Ludington to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. I climbed a high stone pile near the edge of icy Ludington harbor to get a better view. It was freezing cold, but I didn’t notice. As a photojournalist and artist, I lived for the opportunity to make images that I considered good news shots and good art. I was more than willing to pay a price and wait for a peak moment to capture. I still consider this one of the best maritime images I have ever made.

I have never witnessed such a radically divided storm front as the one that confronted me on the shores of Lake Michigan on the evening of July 12, 2007. As I burrowed my tripod into the sand, I could not decide in which direction to photograph. To the north, the sky was black and a massive storm front was quickly approaching my location. To the south, the sky and water looked tropical and calm. I decided to be daring and wait about 30 seconds for the storm to literally get on top of me, and then I photographed straight west. The end result was a photographic version of a Taijitu, the traditional symbol representing the forces of yin and yang.

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.