Little Sable Point Lighthouse

In our 20-20 Vision course, my son Brad and I teach our photography students 20 concepts we use in building strong images. We like to think of these concepts as 20 distinctly different arrows in our photography quiver that we can draw from. This is the best image I have ever made of Little Sable Point Lighthouse, not only because I used a lot of image-building arrows, but because each of them was right on target maximizing the visual impact of the photograph. The dramatic clouds in the mid-October sky enabled me to use one of my favorite arrows: “Clouds are your friends.” Not only were there great clouds, but at the moment of exposure, the clouds were wonderfully positioned in relationship to the lighthouse. This was the fifth consecutive morning I had made the 60-mile round trip to Little Sable Point. I determined the ideal spot to place my tripod on the first day. My goal was to create a three-layer “Grand Scenic” layer cake, marrying foreground, middle-ground and background elements together in a beautiful union. A triangular mound of dune grass provided the perfect foreground and base in which to place my camera. This foreground layer was the most essential layer to make viewers of my finished photograph feel as though they were actually standing there with me. Brad and I strive to make photographs that transcend from pictures to experiences. We want viewers to step right into the scene. I designed and built a strong image that first morning. All the compositional elements were in place. All that was needed now was God’s “magic light” to finish the image. Four mornings in a row I watched and waited. On the fifth morning the light was sharp, the westerly wind was building up some great waves into repetitive patterns, and the clouds looked especially stunning and powerful. After 100 cold minutes, a bright beam of light appeared headed my way like a giant search light. As the light hit the lighthouse, I began shooting. A few seconds later the light also lit the dune grass in front of my camera and tripod. For about five seconds in five days, one of the most glorious shoreline scenes I have ever witnessed lay before me. Then the magic light moved on, and the scene became so much less moving. I and other photographers have made subsequent photographs from almost exactly the same spot. I don’t think Mother Nature will ever duplicate this day. I thank God I realized the need to persevere and be there at this amazing moment.

After a quick drive in the dark to Little Sable Point Lighthouse, my dad and I were as excited (and loud) as middle-schoolers riding a school bus. We had both just made some fantastic shots of the Northern Lights over Ludington. Our goal now was to get a photograph of the Northern Lights over Little Sable Point Lighthouse. Neither of us have ever had any luck in making that shot before. We have both tried several times, but the Northern Lights either never showed up, or they disappeared before we could make the 35-minute drive. Our luck was about to change. The Northern Lights were much dimmer now and almost invisible to the naked eye. However, like Galen Rowell taught all nature photographers, you have to learn to see like your camera sees. I tried to line up the North Star right above Little Sable Point Lighthouse. I made a few test exposures and then set my camera to F8 at ISO 200. I used my cable release and my iPhone as a timer and took a 32-minute exposure. The stars in the night sky made a perfect circle around the North Star and my camera could easily pick up the color from the Northern Lights. What a magic morning along the shores of Lake Michigan. I made this image at 4:54 a.m. on our 17th Tuesday of 2012. F8 at 32 minutes, ISO 200, 14mm lens at 14mm

Little Sable Lighthouse

Today my dad helped me make this image with our underwater housing at Little Sable Point Lighthouse. These were the biggest waves I have ever taken our housing out in. I wore a survival suit and had a rope connecting me to my dad. He stood on shore and was my anchor. We had magic light on and off all day long. When I made this image, it was lightly raining, but the sun was shining brightly. It was worth being knocked over, face planting in the water, and eating a lot of sand to make this image!

In our 20-20 Vision course, my son Brad and I teach our photography students 20 concepts we use in building strong images. We like to think of these concepts as 20 distinctly different arrows in our photography quiver that we can draw from. This is the best image I have ever made of Little Sable Point Lighthouse, not only because I used a lot of image-building arrows, but because each of them was right on target maximizing the visual impact of the photograph. The dramatic clouds in the mid-October sky enabled me to use one of my favorite arrows: “Clouds are your friends.” Not only were there great clouds, but at the moment of exposure, the clouds were wonderfully positioned in relationship to the lighthouse. This was the fifth consecutive morning I had made the 60-mile round trip to Little Sable Point. I determined the ideal spot to place my tripod on the first day. My goal was to create a three-layer “Grand Scenic” layer cake, marrying foreground, middle-ground and background elements together in a beautiful union. A triangular mound of dune grass provided the perfect foreground and base in which to place my camera. This foreground layer was the most essential layer to make viewers of my finished photograph feel as though they were actually standing there with me. Brad and I strive to make photographs that transcend from pictures to experiences. We want viewers to step right into the scene. I designed and built a strong image that first morning. All the compositional elements were in place. All that was needed now was God’s “magic light” to finish the image. Four mornings in a row I watched and waited. On the fifth morning the light was sharp, the westerly wind was building up some great waves into repetitive patterns, and the clouds looked especially stunning and powerful. After 100 cold minutes, a bright beam of light appeared headed my way like a giant search light. As the light hit the lighthouse, I began shooting. A few seconds later the light also lit the dune grass in front of my camera and tripod. For about five seconds in five days, one of the most glorious shoreline scenes I have ever witnessed lay before me. Then the magic light moved on, and the scene became so much less moving. I and other photographers have made subsequent photographs from almost exactly the same spot. I don’t think Mother Nature will ever duplicate this day. I thank God I realized the need to persevere and be there at this amazing moment.

The moon setting in the West and the sun rising in the East created an extraordinary light show before my eyes at the Little Point Sable Lighthouse. The lighthouse has illuminated the most westerly point of land in the lower pennisula of Michigan since it was built in 1874. Little Point Sable Lighthouse is one of only a few brick lighthouses in Michigan still operating.

The planets Venus (brightest) and Jupiter pop out of a star-filled sky along with Little Sable Point Lighthouse. It is near the end of the twilight "blue hour" artists have long loved to paint and photograph. Tonight, with Venus and Jupiter so rarely close together, I am especially excited to photograph a blue sky. F2.8 at 58 seconds, ISO 1600, 14-24mm lens at 20mm

When autumn arrives and visitors retreat from the Lake Michigan shoreline, nature's magic light appears more often. On this autumn evening Little Point Sable Lighthouse was glowing with magic light.

As Brad and I were packing up our gear from shooting the comet, we could see slight color to the north in the night sky. We quickly realized it was the start of the Northern Lights! Back to the dunes we ran. In one capture, we were able to see the Milky Way, Comet NEOWISE, and the Northern Lights! What an amazing show!

The beach at Little Sable Point looks like ice cream swirls today. Wind and waves and sand have worked together to create one of the most unique natural artworks I have ever encountered on a Lake Michigan beach. Little Sable Point Lighthouse and autumn clouds provide an appropriately beautiful backdrop. F32 at 1/125, ISO 400, 24-70mm lens at 24mm

Many of our photographs are long time exposures that are shot on a tripod. We use time exposures because we photograph long after the sun sets below the horizon. This was a thirty second exposure, at F-stop 3.3, and at 100 ISO.

Sunset at Little Sable Point Lighthouse

Little Sable in Fall

The kids and I were driving back from Hart via Little Sable Point Lighthouse. I left them warm in the van, while I ventured out to capture one of my first ever shots of this lighthouse.

Little Sable Surf

Phenomenons are exciting to shoot. Brad and I drove to Little Sable Point Lighthouse to photograph the rare occurrence of the planets Jupiter and Venus close to each other. An unexpected bonus was the rare visibility of lights on the Wisconsin shoreline more than 50 miles away across Lake Michigan.

I had been in the indoor swimming pool with my kids all afternoon at my dad and stepmom's new condo and not paying attention to the sky. Our employee, Aubry Healy, texted me a cell phone shot she had made up near Onekama of some pretty awesome clouds. I told the kids it was time to go upstairs and get changed. When we got upstairs and looked out over Lake Michigan, my jaw hit the ground and I went into full "storm chaser" mode. I knew I had missed my chances of getting a good shot in Ludington, but I calculated that if I drove down to Little Sable Point Lighthouse near Silver Lake, I might be able to get the shelf cloud over the lighthouse. After a long 30-minute drive, I was in position waiting for the storm and shelf cloud to arrive. Within 15 more minutes, the rolling clouds were upon me. I was on the bright side of the storm so the lighthouse was lit in magic light. I waited until the cloud was in just the right location in relation to the top of the lighthouse and clicked the shutter. My grin was from ear to ear as my heart was racing with excitement. My dad and I live to chase Lake Michigan storms!

From atop a high sand dune south of Big Sable Point Lighthouse, I could see the light projecting from the lamphouse intersecting with the light of the tail of the Comet NEOWISE. I decided to try to make a tight image that would emphasize that connection of light in the starry sky. Showing less of the light tower and none of the keepers’ dwelling kept the focus on the story I wanted to tell. Less is so often more..

Little Point Sable Light has stretched 108-feet skyward since 1874 to stand out by daylight and by night with its powerful beacon. Despite the modern array of electronics on many boats and ships, the lighthouse provides visual verification that a vessel is where electronic position systems indicate location. I have learned to not place all my trust in the electronic marvels.

Little Sable Point Lighthouse was shining bright tonight. I always love when the bright sunlight hits the Fresnel lens inside the top of the lighthouse and reflects in unique ways. I also love looking at Little Sable on nights like these where one side is brighter, and the other side is in the shadows. The details of the red brick on the brighter side are visually stimulating to me.