Pine Trees

Just to the northwest of Ruckel's Bridge at the Silver Lake State Park, I came upon this miniature looking forest. I loved how the dappled light was highlighting a few of these beautiful plants. F9 at 0.3, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens at 23mm

Brad and I are winter persons. We love being outside in the snow, photographing, hiking, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing; you name it. But on a winter day as magical as this, we'd better be shooting pictures. We were, and I am glad we were. Following a deer trail through the pines south of the dam at Ludington State Park led me into a winter world of white.

Wednesday

I feel the spirit of these woods at Hartwick Pines State Park so strongly I am compelled to make an annual pilgrimage to Grayling to revere this place as much as to photograph it. Some of these native white pines tower 300 feet over my head. The view from lying on the ground at the base of one of these monsters is priceless.

I only had to walk 100 feet from my house to find this unexpected natural gem. It caught my eye while photographing songbirds in a nearby tree. I did not know then that I would like the image better than the bird photographs. They felt good; this image feels better. F2.8 at 1/80, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm

My thought that these Christmas trees somehow look like snow burgers is silly enough that I find myself chuckling as I photograph them. Regardless of what they may or may not look like, the snow-laden trees looked good enough to me that I made a U-turn on US31 near Free Soil, Michigan to appreciate them up close.

Our home is surrounded by trees. I love all of them. Tonight, I made this image of a small section during the blue hour. The stars were just starting to show, so I worked to compose them around the treetops.

Nikon D810. F22.0 at 1/160, ISO 3200. 60-600mm lens at 240mm. May 27, 2020 at 8:50pm.

This is the second day in a row that I have been up at 5:00 A.M. to be in position to photograph the sunrise around 6:15 A.M. It was totally worth it. This photograph was taken in the farm fields on our hunting property along Conrad Road near the Pere Marquette River. Again, I used a huge telephoto lens to isolate the most intense part of the sky. F10.0 at 1/5000, ISO 100, 600 mm lens with 1.4 extender at 850 mm

I have always loved this stretch of the driveway into Todd and Brad’s family cabin on the Pere Marquette River. The scenic, tree-covered, curved road is fun to hike on. Tonight, it looked especially charming.

Betsy and I took the kids for a walk at Ludington State Park this morning. While hiking, we noticed a large tree that looked like it was billowing smoke from its trunk. To our amazement, it was just steam. As we continued walking, we saw several trees steaming. Eventually, the forest was filled with steam and sunlight. F4.5 at 1/40, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 30 mm

Whew! Beef and sheep shows were today at fair. It was a long, hot day. I am so proud of the kids and their hard work! Fair is so quiet this year, with no midway due to COVID-19. With only a handful of campers, it feels like a ghost town. I took a walk with my camera and fell in love with this orange sunset tonight.

I love the feeling of being among tall trees. It is hard to explain the feeling that I get looking up at them towards the sky.

Magic light graced my wife Debbie's birthday party at our family cabin along the Pere Marquette River. My brother Budde and I planted these red pine trees 10 years ago. Now they have become a beautiful presence on our land. Tonight they complement the sky. F4.5 at 1/400, ISO 200, 80-200 mm lens at 80 mm

The clouds all day today were magnificent! I had allergy testing in Muskegon in the morning; when that ended, I had to pick up the boys from school and head to Mesick for one of Kasey’s meets. I was focused on cheering on the teams and not shooting. When we arrived home, the clouds to the east were still there and they had turned bright pink.

While dropping Julia and Ethan off at school this morning, the sunrise and clouds made it appear as if the trees east of the high school were on fire. I couldn’t get out of my truck fast enough with my camera in hand!

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas this morning. Snow coats the Christmas trees being grown along Hansen Road by Needlefast Evergreens. Like most people, I am feeling it is too early for winter or for the Christmas spirit. F8.0 at 1/5, ISO 800, 80-200 mm lens at 130 mm

As summer wanes, I get the urge to spend more and more time in the woods. Today something inside us draws Brad and me to drive to Hartwick Pines near Grayling to experience being in the largest stand of virgin white pines remaining in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Many of these trees tower more than 300 feet overhead. F22 at 0.8, ISO 200, 14-24mm lens at 14mm

It was a calm morning today in the deer hunting woods. Not many deer were moving, and we had a lot of rain on and off. I was glad to be sitting in a waterproof tower and not in my open-air pit blind today. For a few minutes we had a break in the clouds and a tiny bit of sunlight appeared. I used my iPhone to make this image out of our apple orchard tower.