Ludington Point to Point

One of the most rewarding aspects of driving through the countryside from Point to Point is discovering and rediscovering, the many picturesque farms. Some retain much of the appearance they had a century ago. A traditional farm on Hawley Road, south of Scottville, was aglow as the sun dropped beneath the clouds just before setting.

Cows curious about a visitor lined a fence while two others checked things out from the flapped doorway that allowed them to go in and out of their barn as they pleased. I always looked forward to seeing the cows at a farm along Fountain Road in northern Mason County.

Proud as a peacock, a rooster parades about its pen an hour after crowing in another summer day on a small family farm north of Custer.

I am grateful to have made this picture of one of my favorite barns. Like other vintage wooden barns, this one, on Beaune Road in Hamlin Township, fell victim to the ravages of time and northern Michigan weather and is no longer standing.

After five unsuccessful photo trips to the Schwass farm in Riverton Township, south of Scottville, I thought I was never going to take a good photograph of their winter squash. The challenge was to make a picture that would stir the viewer's emotions the way they had described the experience to me. On the sixth trip, a golden luminescence from the setting sun gave me the feeling they must have had. I was glad for the tips and my perseverance.

I was deer hunting near the Pere Marquette River in Amber Township with my camera, waiting for Whitetails to appear in front of me and fall color behind. The deer never appeared where I needed them to, so I decided to switch gears and frame some of the color I had been looking at for several hours.

Squashing any notion I might have had that I was photographing pumpkins, grower Jim Schwass let me know they were actually winter squash. Visiting with the lifelong Riverton Township farmer while photographing the squash and his son's farm was one of those social bonuses that often make photo expeditions especially rewarding.

Viewing the world through a telephoto lens with a wide aperture creates an impressionistic view of dandelions and one sharp standout.

The nature trails at West Shore Community College abound with outdoor photography subjects. This orange hawkweed stood out along the shore of a pond on the picturesque campus.

It was a magic moment. While photographing a farm surrounded by mustard grass near Fountain, I heard a noise in the opposite direction. I spotted a collie heading my way. Wheeling about, I instantly framed the dog in the viewfinder, panned with him, focused, and shot as he passed by toward the picturesque old farm that may have been his home. It was an unexpected incredible photographic experience.

I saw so many bumblebees on knapweed when I was a boy that I logically named it bumblebee weed. A field of bumblebee weeds was a sure place to capture bumblebees and listen to them buzz in glass jars with holes in the metal lids. Now I become buzzed taking their photographs.

The soft looking texture and repetitive pattern of a rolling field of asparagus appealed to me as I was photo hunting near the Mason Oceana County line on an October afternoon. It was that subtle kind of picture I like to call "wine shots" because they affect you slowly but they tend to grow on you with time.

Lambs grazing on a Carr Settlement farm were not quite sure of what to make of a photographer. They stayed positioned for a fast getaway while satisfying their curiosity about the stranger. Like wild animals, farm animals have instincts and mannerisms I have long enjoyed observing.

When I pass the long-abandoned farm home on Sugar Grove Road northeast of Scottville, I marvel at seeing the old Chrysler Imperial; it seems to belong in the yard of an abandoned farm home. Both car and brick home look like flamboyant works of art that have seen better days.

When the owners of Patton's Junk Yard, on Stiles Road in Riverton Township, granted me permission to photograph the yard I had no idea of the history that lay within. It became apparent that most of the vehicles and machinery reflected a long ago era. I found a delivery truck with "Old Tyme Milling Co." painted on its weathered side. I took many photographs, but I liked this closest, simplest shot that summed up Patton's Junk Yard. The old-fashioned junk yard, with all its relics, has disappeared.

The bow of the commercial fishing tug Judy Ann cuts through the water as the vessel heads for the chub fishing grounds far offshore on Lake Michigan. The tug was operated by Ron Walters and his father, Jim, for many years. It was the last commercial gill net fishing vessel to operate out of Ludington. I miss seeing the sturdy old boats operated by the Walters, Cloutiers, and others plying in and out of the harbor, unloading their catches or working on their nets.

A sign of times past, this sign once advertised a Ludington retail fish business on the waterfront where commercial fishing vessels once docked. The original location of the building and the fish tugs is now the site of Ludington Municipal Marina.

A mother watches over her newborn calf. Conrad Road, between Ludington and Scottville, is an area rich with pastoral scenes.

When I saw the clouds on this afternoon I went in search of a picture in the countryside. After driving up and down rural roads for a time, I remembered a farm northeast of Scottville I had photographed one winter's day. As it came into view, I knew I had found my picture. The scene reminded me of the "Wizard of Oz" before the tornado takes away Dorothy's home.

A fresh coat of snow was just what an old Sanders Meat Packing delivery truck needed to look its best. Long after serving the still thriving Custer business, the pickup stood at Patton's Junkyard as a reminder of the good old days.