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Dog Days of Summer

A spider bridges the gap between clusters of blue vervain growing in the sand dunes south of the Sable River. I discovered the delicate flowers on one of many summer hikes I have made on these southern park trails that are far less traveled than most of the other trails in the State Park. I love the fresh views these trails provide as they weave through the sand, jack pines and wetlands tucked in the valleys between the dunes.

Like cowboys riding into the sunset, bicyclists ride toward the sun on the Ludington waterfront on a splendid September evening.

I enjoy visiting my Grandma Reed after work and having a drink with her. We sit in her kitchen and watch the different birds come to her feeders and chit chat. Every August she gets several humming birds that frequent her yard. I made it my mission to capture a photograph of one of the ruby red hummingbirds for her. After several failed attempts, I finally captured a moment that I was proud of.

Mackinac Island

Epworth Lights

I have always been envious of my cousin Ryan Reed's artistic abilities. Not only is he a world class photographer, he also has a talent for drawing and painting. If I could draw or paint well, these wildflowers would be my inspiration.

Workshop at Ludington State Park

The proof is in the pudding! The Ludington, Michigan area has been proclaimed by several national publications as one of the best places in America to view a sunset. This sunset afterglow confirms their findings.

Ludington North Pier Light

Sky Drama

Cotton Candy - Panoramic

One of the most ominous shelf clouds I have seen in years screams ashore toward Harbor View Marina in Ludington Harbor on the evening of July 26, 2020. These stormfronts tend to be such fast-movers, often advancing at 20 to 40 miles per hour, that I know I have to anticipate them and be in a good position to photograph them well in advance. For this storm, I set up my tripod and camera on the third-floor, outdoor deck of our waterfront home and waited to experience and record the storm.

In the last couple years, I have started noticing rocks shaped like hearts on Michigan beaches. Tonight, I am photographing this one in front of the Whitefish Point Lighthouse on Lake Superior. A workshop student once asked me how I find so many heart-shaped rocks. I thought about it for a while and decided that somehow they must find me.

Seagulls

Tahquamenon Falls River Reflection

My wife and I watched from a high dune vantage point. We waited, for over two hours, for the sunlight to come into line with the water that was winding its way to Lake Michigan from the Bass Lake Outlet. I liked the resulting picture but looked forward to photographing that S-curve with a sky filled with storm clouds. I returned on such a day only to find winds and waves had swept away the S-curve and left a straighter stream behind.

Northern Reflections

After spotting and making an image of a dozen yellow iris flowers blooming in a marshy area on the Island Trail, I followed one of our main teaching concepts and moved "twice as close" and "twice as close again" and began looking for a stronger, simpler image that would reveal the true beauty and detail of the yellow iris. I liked this image better than the first shot, which failed to make the final edit of my images to be considered for this book.

Batten down the hatches! Storm clouds tumbling mixer-style steamroll threateningly ashore along the Lake Michigan shoreline on a June afternoon. This scene and the "Hot Pink" scene are among the hundreds of spectacular big sky views I have witnessed from my home near the Lake Michigan shoreline south of Ludington. They reflect the similar amazing scenes that unfold frequently all along the shores of Lake Michigan.