This album contains images from Todd Reed: 50 Years Seeing Michigan Through a Lens
Explore 50 years of Michigan’s beauty in this uniquely showcased photography art book by Todd Reed - first through his eyes as a highly acclaimed photojournalist, then as a distinguished Coast Guardsman, and since 1975 as one of Michigan’s best-known award-winning outdoor photographers. Travel along with Todd as he recalls stories and recollections of family and friends as he worked four careers simultaneously to eventually attain his goal as a full-time photographer and gallery owner. Discover Michigan’s four seasons as he displays his favorite scenes from across our great state and invites you to share in his memories.
Todd Reed has been photographing Michigan for 50 years and is considered by many to be one of the best landscape photographers in the United States. Todd and his team have published a large format, high-end, hard-cover coffee table book that highlights many aspects of his life and professions to commemorate that wonderful milestone.
The retrospective book is 12 inches square and has almost 400 pages. The book includes a few old family photos from when Todd was young. It also has several images from Todd’s 23 years as a photojournalist at the Ludington Daily News. Of course, the book includes many of Todd’s best-selling images of all time, along with new, longer stories behind those timeless favorites over the 50 years. In addition, Todd was very busy making new photographs in his 50th year, and the book showcases 67 of his brand new, never-before-seen images from 2020.
Perseverance
Keeping on keeping on, a man and his horse and buggy made their way through a snowstorm during a long, hard 1980s Michigan winter. Fruit trees on a farm in Riverton Township of Mason County were barely visible as they traveled Schwass Road. I admired the perseverance of both the man and the horse
Green Giants
While many of the trees further upstream along the Pere Marquette River had already begun turning color, this green giant and another nearby still wore their summer colors. I liked the way they stood out on this late September Michigan morning.
Sunset Meander
The golden light of the setting sun is showcasing the zigzag pattern Porter Creek is taking this evening. I love the way this outlet changes shape and course as the water finds the path of least resistance to Lake Michigan. It is one of countless magical natural places in the Nordhouse Dunes Federal Wilderness.
F8 at 1/640, ISO 400, 80-200mm lens at 135mm
Todd Reed's Day 348 of 365
It is beginning to look at lot like Christmas at the Polcin farm. This scene looked like Christmas in the country when I chose to photograph it earlier today. But now I am back because the sun came out and I knew I could make a cheerier Christmas picture.
F22.0 at 1/50, ISO 100, 12-24 mm lens at 24 mm
Shapes and Shadows
I liked the delicate look of the patterns made by these grasses, lily pads, and reflections on a pond at Kensington Metro Park. I composed the image to feature only those elements that I found exciting.
Zoom
The experience of zooming through my favorite country road tunnel of golden maple leaves is hard to capture with a still-shot camera. I have made many beautiful images showing the beauty of this stretch of Conrad Road in Amber Township between Ludington and Scottville. But I think this October 2020 image which I made by zooming my telephoto lens during the exposure best captures the moving picture sensation of driving through the tunnel.
Maple Mix
I almost missed spotting this picture. After backing up my Suburban on a country road between Evart and Clare, Michigan, for a second look, I stared in awe at a tapestry of various colored leaves clinging to the curving branches of a grand old maple tree in a farm field. I selected a large telephoto lens to focus only on an especially attractive portion of the tree.
Dawn at the Summit
If this is not God’s world I don’t know what is. I waited in the dark along with my son Brad for more than an hour for the sun to peek over the mountains at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. I felt like a very small person as the sun began to light the big, beautiful world around me at Lake of the Clouds in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Kodachrome Dream
I felt like I was dreaming in Kodachrome as I looked down at peak fall color from the summit at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. The Upper Carp River meanders through this section of the nearly 60,000-acre Michigan natural treasure
Castle Color
Overnight the fall color at Miners Castle had become even more brilliant than when I scouted it out. Providing an added ingredient to the composition, a cluster of fallen leaves floated on the surface of Lake Superior. This is one of the many spectacular rocky views along some 15 miles of cliffs in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Dune Set
A sand dune is to me one of nature’s most beautiful creations. Now paint that sand with the golden light of the setting sun and I am awestruck. I loved the feeling of being the only human being experiencing this view from atop the Silver Lake Sand Dunes.
Lost Wharf
For years people have viewed my 1975 portrait of the Ludington commercial fishing wharf and been very quick to identify the location as Fishtown in Leland. Most people never saw or don’t remember what the Pere Marquette Lake waterfront at what is now Ludington Municipal Marina looked like 45 years or more ago. I remember. I loved the fishing boats, the fish shanties and the commercial fishermen there. I made a lot of images before the fishermen were driven out of business, the fish markets closed, and the buildings torn down or moved. This is the best image I ever made of the entire wharf. I made it from the end of the Number One carferry slip, which also is gone now. The rugged old fish tugs
pictured here are (from left) Jim and Ron Walters’ tug LaBlanche, Alex and Louis Cloutier’s tug Vanderberg Bros., and Leo Cloutier’s tug Flipper. The tiny building (far left) that looks like an ice fishing shanty was the “clubhouse” where I was told the fishermen used to meet to converse and play cards. The commercial fishing buildings include (right to left) Peterson’s Fish Market, last operated by Ed Stowe and Lindquist’s Fish Market. The buildings were also used to store and repair fishnets.
