Spring

It is a dark, rainy September day but I keep reminding myself we are always preaching to our photography workshop students that bad weather is good weather for photographers. I just have to find the good. From my truck, the apples trees in a Mason County orchard do not look attractive. But when I move 20 times closer and throw in a little light from my truck headlights, these apples look better than candy apples at a country fair.

This contented cow and her baby calves nap contentedly in the afternoon sun on a Mason County farm pasture.

Donkeys come to greet you on a spring day at a Mason County farm. The clouds in the sky show that rain may not be far away.

Workshop at Ludington State Park

In order to help protect this beautiful piebald deer, my dad and I have sworn not to tell people where we found it. We had received a tip from a family friend, and after almost two hours of searching for this elusive animal, we were getting ready to give up. Suddenly, I spotted it about 75 yards away in the woods. It wasn't until I downloaded this image and saw it on my 30-inch monitor that I noticed the other two deer in the scene. Our perseverance and teamwork paid off.

Small items in nature can have a large impact on the surrounding area, both physically and visually. These leaves were the only spot of color on a vast dune at the Ludington State Park.

I don't know who was more determined, the fish trying to jump up the dam on the Betsie River, or me trying to capture a flying fish with my camera. After a 30 minute battle, I finally got my photo. Unfortunately for the fish, it never made it high enough to get over the dam.

Lilacs at Point Betsie

First Street Beach in Manistee is always a great place to photograph a beautiful Lake Michigan sunset. After a long, hard day of shooting, it warmed my soul to see the sun pop through the clouds just before sunset.

After taking a long hike on the Pentwater Pathways Trailhead with Betsy, Sean, and the kids, we decided we wanted to have a change of scenery. We drove into Pentwater and hiked the channel down to the lighthouse on Lake Michigan. The big lake was rougher than I expected, which was a great surprise.

I have been known to moo out loud at cows to get their attention. Usually, it doesn't work, and they just look at me like I am an idiot; but today it enticed this little one to come closer to me and my camera. My dad has taught me a lot of tricks of the trade over the years.

Clyde Butcher continues to teach people all over the world that swamps are beautiful. He photographs the Everglades in Florida and has done more to save the Everglades than any politician. His photographs move people emotionally and that emotion is what is spurring the action to save the Everglades. Today I am photographing a swamp near the Eastmanville Bayou along the Grand River.

My favorite tugboat, the John Henry, is back working in Ludington harbor. I get myself to the west shore of Pere Marquette Lake by 7:00 A.M., in time to compose the picture and wait five minutes for the sweetest light. F5.6 at 1/125, ISO 100, 12-24 mm lens at 22 mm

A puddle left by an overnight rainstorm mirrors the tugboat Edward E. Gillen. Perhaps it is because of my nautical background, but tugboats tend to attract my photo eye. Maybe it is simply that so many of them seem to have such character.

It has been interesting watching this old abandoned home near Silver Lake change over the last 20 years. My guess is that within the next year or two a good portion of it will collapse.

Old Mission

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.

Workshop at Ludington State Park

My dad and I enjoy photographing these Scottish Highland Cattle south of Hart, Michigan. This one stared me down and looked as if he might charge at me at any moment. I know that little wire fence would have done nothing to protect me, but I couldn't resist trying to make this image. I love his swagger.