Todd and Brad Reed’s Michigan: Wednesdays in the Mitten

Marshall, Michigan appears to me to be one of those small American towns where time stood still in the best way. While Greenfield Village near Detroit recreates the beauty and charm of the American small towns of the past, Marshall is a real town whose residents have made it a community mission to preserve and restore the past look and luster of its downtown as well as its neighborhoods.

Squeezing in for a better view and perhaps looking for a handout, curious calves check out a couple visitors on the other side of their fence line at the Walter Farm north of Marshall. I can drive rural Michigan roads "till the cows come home" searching for views and experiences like this.

Viewers of ABC's Good Morning America selected Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore as the most beautiful place in America. Whether or not you agree, just this single view from one of the Stocking Drive scenic overlooks proves Sleeping Bear is a spectacular place. D800, F9 at 1/1000, ISO 800, 70-200mm lens at 200mm

Viewers of ABC's Good Morning America selected Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore as the most beautiful place in America. Whether or not you agree, just this single view from one of the Stocking Drive scenic overlooks proves Sleeping Bear is a spectacular place. D800, F9 at 1/1000, ISO 800, 70-200mm lens at 200mm

The view of the clock tower of the Eaton County Courthouse stops my car faster than a stop sign. I am stunned by the beauty and condition of this structure built in the 1880s in Charlotte. Towering conifer trees in front of the courthouse appear to me to be an appropriate Michigan outdoors complement to the building.

Whether playing golf or watching from above, the views are spectacular at Arcadia Bluffs. The course, which begins several hundred feet above Lake Michigan, has been ranked among the 100 best golf courses in America by several leading golf publications. From my perspective, Arcadia Bluffs should be rated among the 100 most uniquely beautiful golf courses in the country. I am sure from my travels that many other Michigan golf courses are also among the nation's most beautiful.

The snow is blowing so hard I am afraid to stop along the highway north of Evart, Michigan to photograph this grand old barn. I pull my trusty four-wheel-drive off the roadway as far as the snowdrifts will allow and wait for a lull in the wind so my camera and I can see the barn. The barn comes and goes like a mirage. I am living the dream as a full-time outdoor/nature photographer. I am loving this winter dream.

The second time is the charm. Two weeks ago I noticed this heart-shaped tree and barn along US10 between Walhalla and Custer. The view caused me to stop and make an image I liked a lot. But now, two weeks later while motoring back home from a long day of shooting pictures across the state, the same scene is in front of me with light and atmosphere to die for. Brad and I like to tell our photography students 90 percent of a good picture is about the light and/or atmosphere. I am witnessing the proof of that.

I find the "real deal" far more impressive than any fake lawn ornament I have ever seen. Even the placement struck me as ideal as I stopped my truck along a country road near Twin Lake to make a still-life image while the farmyard attraction stays still. Stopping also gives me time to truly appreciate the tender loving care the owners of the Ponderosa have given to their fine old barn.

Sheep can be skittish but curious as well. This sheep chooses to check me out while other sheep continue to graze at a farm east of Hesperia. I am grateful my new acquaintance stands still long enough that I can microcompose my composition ensuring my camera's view of its eyes are not blocked by the fence. Thanks, pal!

Queen Anne’s Lace attracts me in summer as I travel the highways and byways of Michigan. On this still morning winter worked its magic to create this and many other “snow flowers” along a country road near Crystal Valley. Gotta love winter!

The old oak tree continues to grow as the house and barn continue to fade away. I see more than a picture here; I see a story to be told with my camera. It is an evolving story of the tree and the farm growing old together. I wish I knew more of the story, including whether the tree was already growing along Schoenherr Road in rural Mason County when the original homesteaders arrived, probably more than a century ago.

Blaze orange shows up like nothing else in the Michigan outdoors. But this blaze orange bush at Croton appears to be on fire as the sun strikes it on the edge of an October rainstorm. We are always talking about the superior quality of "magic light" in our workshops. This light is most common in October. When magic light breaks out during or right after a storm, the sky becomes a dark backdrop for the intensely lit foreground subject, adding to the drama. Be ready to shoot on rainy days!

I love studying clumps of dune grass looking for pleasing arrangements of patterns and shapes. Sometimes I see an arrangement I love but the background is too cluttered. Today, a fresh coat of snow along the Lake Michigan shoreline near Pentwater creates a clean, simple background for an arrangement I find simply splendid.

The Ludington beach has been rated as one of the finest anywhere by various publications. I can see why as I watch beachgoers in action or simply relaxing. Others enjoy the hike on the Ludington breakwater to the lighthouse, which is open for tours most summer days.

For nearly a century, people have been enjoying the five-and-a-half-mile Toonerville Trolley wilderness train ride. Today Brad and I are aboard the narrow-gauge train that starts out near Soo Junction in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. From my vantage point in the front car, I am getting an up-close view of a pair of sandhill cranes. From the rear car, Brad has already seen a black bear at a distance.

Tulips appear to extend to infinity at Windmill Island Gardens in Holland, Michigan. Visitors from across Michigan and around the world flock to Tulip City each spring to see countless blooms, other Dutch heritage attractions, and Tulip Festival events.

Tulips and the De Zwaan Windmill are two of the spectacular ways Holland, Michigan celebrates its Dutch heritage. Today I search for just the right tulips with which to frame the centuries-old windmill. I set up the tripod low to the ground to make several foreground tulips stand out and surround the tall windmill.

What we feel and what we at first see through our camera lens often bear little similarity. Identifying feelings causes me to realize I need to haul out my largest telephoto lens to match the painterly, impressionistic feeling I am getting from this tulip garden in downtown Holland. Now all I have to do is organize my composition and focus only on my chosen star tulip so the viewers of my finished image will easily make their way through the maze of flowers in front to the one on which I want them to focus their attention.

I have made a lot of close-up shots of eagles but Brad and I also love to make environmental portraits of wildlife that are sometimes as much or more about their surroundings. There is something about the position of this eagle in a lone tree overlooking a large field near East Jordan that I think makes the eagle, and the tree, a perfect complement to each other.