Summer

Legends Ranch Clover Field in Morning

Each night that I step onto the shores of Lake Michigan, I am amazed by the unique light show that unveils itself. No two sunsets are the same. Just when you think you have seen them all, Mother Nature renders a refreshingly new display of her beauty.

The moon setting in the West and the sun rising in the East created an extraordinary light show before my eyes at the Little Point Sable Lighthouse. The lighthouse has illuminated the most westerly point of land in the lower pennisula of Michigan since it was built in 1874. Little Point Sable Lighthouse is one of only a few brick lighthouses in Michigan still operating.

Salmon Fishing in July Ludington

You have probably read or heard my dad and me say a hundred times that "clouds are your friends" when you are out making photographs. Well, today the proof is in the pudding. This scene of the Lost Lake Island at Ludington State Park is a beautiful sight every day of the year, but the spectacular clouds today took the view from good to great. F5 at 1/640, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

Holy Smoke

Who knew that Lake Michigan and Point Betsie Lighthouse could look like a tropical island in the Caribbean? With my cold water survival suit on and almost 300 feet of safety line tying me to the steel jetties in front of the lighthouse, I floated into water that was about 20 feet deep to make this image.

When I was a boy, I loved to slip silently through a field of knapweed in search of bumblebees to capture. Now, just looking at and photographing the knapweed is reward enough. Throw in the Lake Michigan shoreline north of Ludington for a backdrop, and I am in visual heaven!

I made this image during one of our Advanced Weekend Photo Workshops. Michigan State was playing Michigan and it was towards the end of the game. Several photo students were listening to the game on their cell phones. I wanted to listen, but the light and clouds were getting so good that I knew it was "game time" for me to shoot. I got the shot, but better yet, Michigan State had one of the best comebacks of the entire year to win the game on the last play. Go Green!

Pure Manistee

"This Is Ludington" by Brad Reed My girlfriend Rachel texted me tonight that the northern lights were out. I rushed to my truck and drove down to Stearns Beach in Ludington. I walked as fast as I could out the pier hoping the dancing northern lights would last long enough for me to get the picture I had pre-visualized. Luckily for me, the light show lasted over an hour, and at times, was spectacular! Nikon D850. F5.6 at 91 seconds, ISO 800. 14-24mm lens at 14mm. On a tripod without a flash. 11:22pm on September 18, 2023.

Tranquil summer evenings on the Lake Michigan waterfront lure boats and people like fish to water. This late July evening in Pentwater was no exception. As in so many other favorite locations along the Lake Michigan shoreline, people and their vessels are drawn back year after year like salmon to their birthplaces.

I was on top of a large sand dune tonight at the Ludington State Park and was in position to shoot a colorful sunset when I noticed this large lower laker passing by offshore. I decided to not shoot the setting sun, and instead focused on this moment.

Dunes Are Calling

Soaring by Todd Reed Our adrenalin flies off the chart as this bald eagle sweeps right over the top of our photography skiff on Hamlin Lake. My son Brad and I have set out this morning in our tiny Boston Whaler to try to show another avid bird photographer, Dr. Zane Knoer, an eagle to photograph. We are getting a better eagle show than we could have dreamed.

By closing the aperture down on my camera lens to a tiny hole at F22, I knew I could create hundreds of little star shapes on the surface of Lake Michigan today while photographing at South Haven, Michigan. Because so little light was entering the tiny hole in my lens, I needed to bump up my ISO to 800 in order to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the motion of the rolling water. We teach all of our workshop students to operate their cameras in full manual exposure so that they can be in control of how their photographs look and feel. F22 at 1/2500, ISO 800, 70-200mm lens at 200mm

My dad and stepmom Debbie were at the Brooks and Dunn concert tonight at the DTE Energy Music Theatre so I was flying solo while teaching our 20/20 Vision Summer Workshop that we hold every Thursday in Ludington. Just as I was pointing out the two red streaks in the water from the reflection of the clouds, a sailboat passed near by. F2.8 at 1/250, ISO 640, 18-50 mm lens at 18 mm

On the walk back from Big Sable Point Lighthouse around 12:40am on Sunday, May 12th, my dad, Ethan, and I turned around and finally saw the northern lights show we had been waiting for all evening. The pillars shot straight up from the ground to above our heads. It was unbelievably bright and visible to the naked eye. Of course, the camera sees the colors even better than we do. This shot was just before the pillars shrank and disappeared. This is my dad’s photograph.