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Too magical to be real, a white horse made an already beautiful Michigan fall color view truly magnificent. One never knows what wonder will appear when traveling the byways of West Michigan.

365 Week

365 Week

When I was a kid, my brothers and I spent a lot of time climbing trees in our neighborhood near Lake Michigan. One of our neighbors had a huge old beech tree in his yard and he would let all the neighborhood kids climb it. While I was photographing this tree in Marshall, Michigan, I could hear all the laughter and voices of my brothers and friends in my head and it made me smile.

I have studied this old oak tree in Pere Marquette Township for some time. A fresh overnight snowfall highlights the massive tree's beautiful shapes. F11.0 at 1/5, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 130 mm

Bay Harbor in Petoskey is an enchanting place full of beautiful homes and wonderful people. This tree, near the main entrance on US31, grabbed my attention as I was driving by. I turned my truck around and made a 30 second exposure. I love how the final image turned out. D800, F16 at 30 seconds, ISO 100, 70-200mm lens at 78mm

Participants in one of our advanced photography weekend workshops were in photography heaven when Mother Nature blasted the woodlands with snow overnight. We didn’t have far to go to find good pictures. This was the view within a couple hundred yards of the workshop’s basecamp–Jim and Carole Smith’s Hamlin Lake lodge cottage on the border of the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness. While assisting Carole and other photographers in making photographs of their choice, I was attracted to the way the snow had “painted” this big tree trunk and the smaller trees surrounding it.

Dwarfed by the forest, a cross-country skier glides silently along the Logging Trail on one of those winter days that winter lovers live for. I have skied the Logging Trail so many times I have memorized the views that will greet me over the next hill or around the next curve. Yet I never tire of my Logging Trail journeys. There is something comforting about knowing a place. It is a feeling like home.

Maple trees planted when horse and buggy traveled a country lane now tower over anything or anyone passing their way. The stretch of Decker Road, between Ludington and Scottville, is one of the few country roadways in the area that remain more of a lane a road. Because of its natural look and the magnificent maples, it has long been one of my favorite spots to drive through and to photograph.

I thank God for this glorious view from the Lake Michigan bluff high above Arcadia. After years of looking, I finally found a vantage point that gave me an unobstructed view of this church steeple amidst a sea of hardwood tree canopies in full fall color.

A diseased tree had split in half about four feet up from the ground and a bird made a beautiful little nest in the remaining top of the stump. I put my 14mm wide-angle lens extremely close to the nest. This photograph was taken close up yet does not look like a typical close-up. With a wide-angle lens, if you do not get very close to the subject, the subject will look tiny and the photograph will often lack emotional impact.

On an August evening during a photo trek to Big Point Sable Lighthouse I faced a momentary dilemma. I was shooting an extremely dramatic sunset over Lake Michigan to the west when I looked back to the east to see if the sky was "painting" the lighthouse with its brilliant color. As I turned what caught my eye was not the lighthouse-bathed in pink but the moon rising over a gorgeously "painted" dune just north of the lighthouse. The light was splendid and momentary. I knew there was not time to shoot all three pictures. While I was vacillating, my wife was decisive, declaring: "Shoot the moon!" So, I did. Thank you, Debbie!

The first week of the 365 Project seems to be an overwhelming success. The response to the photos by email and on Facebook has been fantastic. To start the second week of my shooting, I headed south of Ludington to the fruit fields in Summit Township on Morton Road. This is one of my favorite areas of Mason County. F22.0 at 0.5, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 50 mm

After the Fire

Legends Ranch

Ludington State Park Workshop

This is one of the more well known and photographed trees in Ludington. It is just north of the north concession stand at Stearns Park beach. I find this tree beautiful all year long. F22.0 at 1/30, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 30 mm

As a team-building exercise to kick off the busy summer selling season, my dad and I took many of our staff members out shooting with us today. We started the morning shooting the sunrise at Bass Lake, then we shot sailboats on Pentwater Lake. Now we have moved to Christofferson Farms on Morton Road south of Ludington. As I am composing this photograph, I am certain I will be back in the fall to pick the fruit off these same trees with my wife and kids; we enjoy going there every fall.

For several years, I have dreamed of making an aerial photograph of fruit trees in full bloom taken from a dynamic angle with dandelions on the ground. Today, our manager, Sarah Genson, and I went flying with Ryan Johnson from Mason County Aviation. I told Ryan about the idea I had and he knew just where to take us. This is an orchard south of Ludington.