Other Flowers

I love how the color red on these tiny flowers rockets out and grabs your attention. I used my 105mm macro lens and tripod to isolate these flowers against the snow in the background. I love the mysterious world that macro photography helps our eyes to see.

Iced

My great-grandma, Martha Delite Benson, had a passion for finding small treasures outdoors. She seemed to gravitate toward beautiful objects that most people would pass by. I believe her ability to "go deeper" into the scene and find the less obvious beauty in nature was passed down to my dad and me. As I photographed this delicate starflower at the Ludington State Park in June of 2006, I could not help but grin and think of my Great-Grandma Benson.

Frost coats almost everything along the Pere Marquette River this morning. I make a picture of a frost-covered bush with the river as background. Then, following the "twice-as-close rule" Brad and I teach, I start looking for closer pictures. Just a few footsteps closer to the river I find it. Queen Anne's Lace laced with frost looks like a Crown Jewel. F22.0 at 1/160, ISO 400, 105 mm lens at 105 mm

Brad and I are both searching for flowers today. The unseasonably sunny weather is sure to have brought them out. He finds some right away. It takes me a couple hours. This tiny gem

Snowdrops are popping up all over Mason County today. I knew John and Marion Riedl had a great garden last year, so I drove over to their house near the gallery and looked around. John came out and said, "The snowdrops are in the backyard." Thanks for your help, John and Marion! F2.8 at 1/60, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 34 mm

Queen Anne’s Lace attracts me in summer as I travel the highways and byways of Michigan. On this still morning winter worked its magic to create this and many other “snow flowers” along a country road near Crystal Valley. Gotta love winter!

Blaze orange shows up like nothing else in the Michigan outdoors. But this blaze orange bush at Croton appears to be on fire as the sun strikes it on the edge of an October rainstorm. We are always talking about the superior quality of "magic light" in our workshops. This light is most common in October. When magic light breaks out during or right after a storm, the sky becomes a dark backdrop for the intensely lit foreground subject, adding to the drama. Be ready to shoot on rainy days!

A sunrise to rival the beauty of the evening primrose growing along the Pere Marquette River, south of Ludington, seemed too good to be true. It was true and the light and flowers were preserved on film.

I drove to the land our family owns in hopes of finding some flowers in bloom that were planted years ago by the Betka family. Sure enough, I found them along Conrad Road and moved in for a closer look with a macro lens. F13.0 at 1/25, ISO 400, 105 mm lens at 105 mm

365 Week

The front yards of Jeannie Krieger's house and Terry Murphy and Deb Dila's house on Rath Avenue in Ludington are covered with these gorgeous glory of the snow flowers. Using my wide-angle macro lens and carefully getting as close to the flowers as I could; I made this photo in the bright sunlight. F5.0 at 1/640, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 20 mm

My wife Betsy and my in-laws, Don and Shari Verduin, sang in the Good Friday community service today. This year the community service was held at Cornerstone Baptist Church. When I found this beautiful cross on the wall I thought it would make a fitting photo for Good Friday. F2.8 at 1/80, ISO 800, 18-50 mm lens at 34 mm

Spring has come early this year and caused an early-blooming Eastern Redbud ornamental tree to bloom in March. The early arrival brightens my day as I head home on Iris Road south of Ludington. F6.3 at 1/320, ISO 400, 80-200mm lens at 200mm

Finally, a little rain to go with all that sunshine and warmth that has been good for the soul and for growing. F2.8 at 1/500, ISO 400, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm

I always know spring is near when I see these little blue flowers bloom every year in Nick and Kate Krieger’s yard. I photographed them in 2010 for our 365 Project and was honored to be able to photograph them again for the 366 Project ten years later.

My mom has always loved her flowers. Over the years, her flower gardens have gotten smaller but no less beautiful. Her daffodils in front of their large porch glowed in the light this evening.

There are more monarch butterflies than people enjoying Dow Gardens in Midland today. Brad and I are delighted to be among only a handful of people appreciating one of Michigan's most beautiful gardens this morning.

I know photographers who set up feeding stations and sophisticated lighting systems to increase their odds of making fabulous photographs of hummingbirds. I appreciate the thought and work that goes into that style of shooting as well as the outcome. As for me, my unplanned, unexpected encounter with this hummingbird at Dow Gardens in Midland is the kind of hunting in the wild approach I prefer. My adrenaline is flying off the charts but I have to work fast and smart to capture the hummingbird image I have always dreamed of making.

An Easter lily seems a fitting image for Easter Sunday. It was not the same Easter gathering that we typically have, but we tried to make the best of it.