Summer

Shadows to the Light

Manistee Lighthouse and USCG

Today is the start of the second annual Westmaas family week-long vacation near Manistee, Michigan. Over twenty members of my mother-in-law's family come from all over the country to enjoy the shoreline and waters of Lake Michigan. The house we rented this year is near the 5th Avenue Beach in Manistee, Michigan. F22.0 at 0.4, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 18 mm

Sunrise at Big Sable

Fish Town in Leland showcases Michigan's Great Lakes commercial fishing heritage while also featuring shopping, dining, and boat cruises. Leland is one of dozens of picturesque Great Lakes small port villages, towns, and cities.

August Night

Little Sable

In the 1980s, high Lake Michigan water levels threatened to undermine Big Point Sable Lighthouse. The Coast Guard erected a planned replacement tower to be ready for the day the light toppled into Lake Michigan. Local lighthouse lovers and construction companies teamed up to repair the steel wall that once protected the light, adding further fortification against the waves. The reinforcement worked; the Coast Guard removed the backup light. Lake Michigan receded, allowing the waves to deposit sand around part of the sea wall. Knowing the potential fate at this light makes me appreciate its presence even more.

Storm Front Over Ludington

This is the best sunset I have ever seen while photographing the Manistee Lighthouse. I tried to time it so that the people walking down the pier were in a good location for this composition. I used the natural framing of the pier and placed the walkers in one of the archways. In our photography workshops, we call this concept micro composing. F9.0 at 1/125, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 35 mm

The freighter Canadian Transfer, her navigation light showing she is underway, steams slowly, carefully toward Ludington harbor on a summer night. The traditional style Great Lakes freighter was bringing a load of stone to the Laman Aspalt docks.

Sunset Off Stearns Park Beach

Tall Ship and Sunset

I walked out the Ludington North Breakwater to photograph the northern lights in the middle of the night. The lights we barely visible, but the Milky Way was incredible. You could also see the lights of Wisconsin. It was a beautifully calm night on Lake Michigan.

Shining brighter than a spotlight at a rock concert, beams of light I like to call "God beams" spotlight the Ludington lighthouse. I prefer nature's light shows to any manmade ones.

Photographing lightning always gives me a jolt of adrenaline. This storm that rolled in from Lake Michigan hit Manistee with a punch. I was excited that I was able to capture a small bolt of lightning with only a shutter speed of 1/5 of a second. F22 at 1/5, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens at 27mm

Birdseye View of Hamlin Lake

The shoreline at Little Sable Point extends westward toward Wisconsin farther than any spot of land in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. I feel on top of the world looking southwest over Lake Michigan from the tower observation deck over 100 feet above the shore atop Little Sable Point Lighthouse.

Badger in Fog

Pure Ludington - Panoramic