Summer

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.

Pure Manistee

In the last few years Ludington has had several different tall ships visit our port. As the Peacemaker rounded the Ludington North Breakwater Light and headed for the dock in Ludington, I was certain she was the most beautiful tall ship to visit this busy port. I was so impressed she came through the channel with all of her sails up.

A hand-crafted wooden dinghy drifted lazily upon the still waters of Pentwater Lake on a summer evening. Its tending line kept the little craft from drifting too far away from a classic wooden sailboat.

I am obsessed with photographing water ripples. Some day we hope to do an entire book of these abstract ripple shots. Blue is my favorite color and I love how many different shades of blue appear in this photograph. The sky tonight was bright blue and had tons of huge white puffy clouds that reflected on the calm waters of Lake Michigan as we stood at the elbow of the breakwall in Ludington with several workshop students.

Underway and making way, slow but sure, a turtle plodded along the beach near the Ludington State Park Beach House. The turtle’s slow pace gave me time to create an artistic composition that emphasized the beauty of its tracks. The highlights and shadows resulting from the bright, low-in-the-sky evening light raking across the beach made the tracks more distinct and more beautiful. This is one of my son Brad’s favorite images of mine. Brad was ecstatic when he saw the Fuji Velvia slide of this image after I dug it out of the slide storage box it had been living in for years.

With a foreground this beautiful, why not make it the subject and let the foghorn building and lighthouse at Point Betsie Light Station serve as the background? One of the most important questions a photographer should ask is, "What exactly is exciting to me about this scene?" Answer that and then emphasize it. That was the mental process that has led me to this composition.

Ludington State Park Workshop

Tahquamenon Falls and White Fish Point

I have never witnessed such a radically divided storm front as the one that confronted me on the shores of Lake Michigan on the evening of July 12, 2007. As I burrowed my tripod into the sand, I could not decide in which direction to photograph. To the north, the sky was black and a massive storm front was quickly approaching my location. To the south, the sky and water looked tropical and calm. I decided to be daring and wait about 30 seconds for the storm to literally get on top of me, and then I photographed straight west. The end result was a photographic version of a Taijitu, the traditional symbol representing the forces of yin and yang.

 On July 21, 2011, I had joined Todd Reed for a 20/20 Vision Workshop that Todd and Brad Reed Photography put on. When we started our night shoot down at the end of the Ludington Avenue, the sky didn’t show any signs of a great sunset. At best, we had a 50/50 chance for ANY good light to come our way. We were pleasantly surprised by this burst of color after sunset. It was one of the most spectacular sunsets that I’ve ever seen!

Water and foam swirl together on the Sable River to form a beautiful sea horse.

Pentwater

While taking back roads up to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore tonight, we drove by this old McCormick-Deering tractor. I had my dad turn the Suburban around so I could hop out and make this photograph. Both the tractor and the massive old maple tree are timeless beauties. I wonder which one is older? F10 at 1/125, ISO 400, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

Calm, windless nights on Lake Michigan may not make for great sailing, but they sure do make for sensational photographs.

May Workshop at LSP

A rowboat rests at its dock on Bass Lake near Pentwater, Michigan. The peacefulness and timelessness of the scene captured my eye on an early morning photo hunt. I am quite sure I photographed the same little boat at its dock a couple years ago but today the direction and angle of the light is far better. F9 at 1/250, ISO 100, 80-200mm lens at 200mm

I enter a dark woods off of Piney Ridge Road and soon come to a wall of sand. I start to ascend the massive sand giant, stopping occasionally to let the burning in my legs recede. It is a race. Photographer versus the sunlight of early morning. I crest the peak and turn to the east to see if I've won. I notice beautiful yellow flowers at my feet. I get into position and only have to wait two minutes for the sun. Beautiful!

Catching sight of a pair of kayakers paddling in one of the many picturesque coves on Lost Lake, I momentarily find myself wanting to join them, to discover what they are discovering, to see what they are seeing. But I have already made my choice to hike the Island Trail this day and I am content to return to my own path of discovery.