Summer

I love the feeling of being among tall trees. It is hard to explain the feeling that I get looking up at them towards the sky.

Dwight “Scotty” Scott was my step-grandpa. As a little kid, I loved my Papa Scotty. I spent a lot of time at his restaurant Scotty’s in Ludington. Unfortunately, his original restaurant, Scotty’s Wren’s Roost, located on the middle bayou of Hamlin Lake, had burned to the ground a year before I was born. A family friend gave me an original coffee mug from there and I photographed it tonight.

It is always fun to find new vantage points from which to photograph the Ludington North Breakwater Light. This morning it was the reflection of the lighthouse that caught my eye. I used the dunes as my foreground and searched for a spot where the reflection would tie into the dunes. F9 at 1/400, ISO 100, 70-200mm lens at 200mm

The back-roads drive along the Lake Michigan shoreline between Manistee and Onekama is one of my Michigan favorites. At this spot near Onekama motorists can look through the trees and see miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, including the Portage Lake pierheads. F22 at 1/30, ISO 100, 80-200mm lens at 120mm

My stepmom Debbie hates frogs and toads. Tonight while we were having a picnic at her and my dad's house, I found this toad and photographed it with my macro lens. I was tempted to take the toad in the house and scare her, but I knew she would probably get me back some day with a big, nasty spider. F10.0 at 1/250, ISO 320, 105 mm lens at 105 mm

There are so many fun things you can do with your camera. You can take a basic everyday item and turn it into a unique photograph. Here, I took a notebook of Kasey’s and used it for my photo of the day.

I took Rachel’s son David Benjamin pike fishing tonight on Pere Marquette Lake. Unfortunately, the fish weren’t biting, but we still had a great time and a fun boat ride in my dad’s Boston Whaler. We stopped the boat on our way back to the boat slip to make this image of the setting sun.

You know summer has arrived in northern Michigan when you start seeing sweet pea along the roadsides. I singled out this flower to photograph from amongst hundreds of sweet peas along the shoreline road south of Onekama. I wanted to show how beautiful these flowers are when viewed up close. F9 at 1/8, ISO 100, 80-200mm lens at 200mm

Amy Seng, the director of the local Convention and Visitors Bureau, was taking time tonight to be a tourist in her hometown. The Ludington area locals have had a higher than average number of fantastic summer evenings to enjoy along the shores of Lake Michigan this year because of the warm, dry weather. F5.6 at 30.0, ISO 100, 14 mm lens at 14 mm

Some of my favorite memories growing up were made in our apple orchard. The tire swing, baseball diamond, and the biggest dandelions were there. Let’s not forget the apples. We would eat them right off the tree, or make homemade apple sauce, pie, crisp, or butter. The apples that were too bruised I would pick up for my brother, Kevin, to put out for deer. This apple tree is in my yard, and we love it.

From the skate park near the south end of Stearns Drive in downtown Ludington, I made this image of the Ludington North Breakwater Light. I had to stand on my tailgate in order to get the playground equipment out of the bottom of my image..

Why does this image look so bizarre? I made this photograph using a waterproof housing for my camera. Right before I snapped the shutter, I dipped the entire camera and lens under the water. I quickly raised the camera about two-thirds of the way out of the water and made this image. The water on the lens made the actual carferry look dreamy, yet the reflection of the boat looks crisp and sharp on top of water. F6.3 at 1/640, ISO 400, 10-17mm lens at 12mm

When I was a little girl, I would pick huge bouquets of flowers from my mom’s garden. I would take them into our playhouse, and using wax paper, I would make them into bouquets that I assumed one would buy from a flower shop. I made handmade cards that customers could include with the flowers. It was a vision of mine to put a sign at the end of our road, and have people come visit us and our garden, and buy bouquets from me.

I love passing by the Bentz farm on Conrad Road between Ludington and Scottville and viewing the beautifully manicured garden in front of their well-maintained old barns. Today a sunflower rises above others to stand out in front of one of the barns. F4.0 at 1/640, ISO 400, 500 mm lens at 500 mm

I am always on the lookout for hearts in nature. I spotted this red heart in a pudding stone tonight while golfing at Lincoln Hills Golf Course in Ludington. When I got home and examined the photo closer, I noticed two more upside down hearts in the photograph. Three red hearts in one photo were pretty exciting!

I have only seen the SS Badger carferry perfectly reflected on the calm water one other time in my life and that was almost 20 years ago. Twenty years ago I was only 14 years old and, of course didn't have a camera with me. This time I was armed and ready. F6.3 at 1/640, ISO 400, 10-17mm lens at 12mm

When you are boating it is never a good sign to see "green water" coming into your boat because it means it is really rough. This photograph clearly demonstrates how the surface of the water is blue, but the water beneath the surface is often green. F8 at 1/640, ISO 400, 10-17mm lens at 10mm

My in-laws, Don and Shari Verduin, moved to Ludington in 2009 and bought a house in town. They are both really into gardening and the house they purchased already had an amazing flower garden, but they have made it even better. Tonight, their zinnias caught my attention. F2.8 at 1/80, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 50 mm

The kids love gathering the chicken eggs. We hope to set up a stand at the end of our drive one year with fresh produce and farm fresh eggs.

This is probably the most bizarre photograph that I have made of the Ludington North Breakwater Light. With the underwater housing for my Nikon D7000, I was able to capture this image. Half of my lens was under water, the other half above the surface. F6.3 at 1/800, ISO 400, 10-17mm lens at 10mm