Spring

Tulips and the 250-year-old DeZwaan Windmill are longstanding symbols of Holland's Dutch heritage and the famous Holland Tulip Festival. I placed my wide-angle lens amidst the tulips to make them stand out. The historic windmill, undergoing renovations for this year's festival, becomes a secondary yet highly visible subject. F7.1 at 1/500, ISO 100, 14-24mm lens at 24mm

Happy Easter! This bunny was in my yard tonight. I used a rabbit call on my iPhone to help make this image.

With my Wimberley tripod head on my Gitzo tripod, I slowly panned my 600mm lens as I looked at an endless field of tulips in Holland, Michigan. I didn't push the shutter until the scene inside my viewfinder felt great. As I panned over this lone tulip I knew I had found my winning composition. F4 at 1/1000, ISO 100, 600mm lens at 600mm

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.

A lone fisherman appears to have the sunset all to himself as he fishes from the end of the Ludington South Breakwater. F8.0 at 1/500, ISO 200, 300 mm lens at 300 mm

As it rises above other tulips and opens to receive more sunshine, this tulip stands out among hundreds the same color in one of the public parks in Holland, Michigan. The tulips have bloomed weeks early this year due to record warm weather in March. F8 at 1/1000, ISO 200, 500mm lens at 500mm

I stood on the Pentwater beach tonight hoping to photograph the lighthouse in the storm. However, the best light was to the north, so I turned around and shot towards Ludington. Looking through my viewfinder, I shot photos like a sniper, only pulling the trigger when I felt the roll of the waves looked great. Shoot less and see more

Dogwood blossoms blowing in a spring breeze are one of the more beautiful gifts of spring. This early-bird blossom stands out this evening. F4.0 at 1/100, ISO 400, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm

The bright sunlight combined with some large billowy clouds was casting the perfect light to photograph the endless fields of beautiful tulips in Holland, Michigan today. After an afternoon of shooting, this is my favorite photograph that I made of the gorgeous tulips. F4 at 1/800, ISO 100, 600mm lens at 600mm

When I looked out over Lake Michigan from my truck at the first curve inside the Ludington State Park, I chuckled to myself when I realized this huge storm cloud looked like a dragon. This photo reminds me of Smaug from The Hobbit.

Earlier today, I was in my backyard helping build a deck off the back of my house. While working, I kept seeing this little bird flying around and hopping from tree to tree. When trying to figure out what to photograph for my photo of the day, I remembered the beautiful bird from earlier in the day. F5.6 at 1/50, ISO 1600, 600 mm lens at 600 mm

It strikes me that the lives of these two tulips appear intertwined like a pair of swans. They are part of the splendid display of tulips in one of Holland's city park gardens. F5.6 at 1/1000, ISO 200, 500mm lens at 500mm

If you like the feeling of this photograph with the soft background and shallow depth of field then I recommend using your largest telephoto lens and getting as close as possible to the subject while still being able to maintain a focus. Then set your aperture to the largest opening. In this photo I used a huge 600mm lens wide open at F4 and I was only about 18 feet away from the tulip that is in the sharpest focus. F4 at 1/1000, ISO 100, 600mm lens at 600mm

Tonight, I drove to my Grandpa and Grandma Reed's house to photograph some of the birds that frequent their beautiful yard. As I pulled into the driveway I spotted this male cardinal. Luckily for me, he stayed put for about 10 minutes, which allowed me to get in just the right spot to make this photograph. F4.0 at 1/200, ISO 1000, 600 mm lens at 600 mm

Cherry blossoms stand out in the springtime near the DeZwaan Windmill at Windmill Island Gardens in Holland, Michigan. I used a large lens aperture to feature the blossoms, separate them out from the windmill and to give the image a soft, painterly feeling. F4 at 1/1000, ISO 100, 80-200mm lens at 80mm

Tulip time! My Grandpa Benson, who lived with our family when my brother and I were young, planted a lot of tulips in our yard with help from my mom. Spotting these brilliant red tulips makes me think of how much my grandpa and my mom enjoyed watching those tulips come up every spring. F2.8 at 1/640, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm

The repetitive pattern in this photograph intrigues me. I like how the sunlight is shining through the petals at different angles, making the tulips look somewhat transparent. I also like the subtle s-curve going through the photograph starting with the first tulip in the lower right corner. F8 at 1/160, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens 34mm

It is becoming harder and harder to find old barns to photograph. So many of them have succumbed to Mother Nature. The kids and I found this barn on Inman Road south of Ludington.

Today was my first time at Windmill Island Gardens in Holland, Michigan. The historic village near downtown replicates what life was like in the Netherlands a few hundred years ago. Each year, hundreds of volunteers help plant thousands of tulips in Holland for their annual Tulip Time festival. This year, the tulips have bloomed a month early because of the unseasonably warm weather in March. F8 at 1/200, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens at 35mm

Holland, Michigan has dozens of different varieties of tulips that bloom every spring throughout the downtown. Today we saw hundreds of thousands of tulips in bloom and this variety, called "Aleppo" was one of my favorites. F8 at 1/2000, ISO 800, 18-50mm lens at 50mm