Winter

A large farm near the border of Mason and Oceana Counties looks like the skyline view of Chicago over Lake Michigan. I can’t stop my truck quick enough to make this image.

Mirror of Heaven

I like to call it the "Marne Barn" because I am always on the lookout for it when I pass by it on I-96 west of Marne. The Mart Egan & Sons barn is one of the prettiest, best kept barns in Michigan. On this snowy day I felt compelled to get off the freeway at Marne and find my way there to photograph it.

After traveling nearly 300 miles today photo hunting on a mostly gray day, experience tells me the sun may peak out as it approaches the horizon. I head to Ludington State Park and take up position on one of the tallest dunes on the shoreline. Sure enough, 20 minutes before sunset, the sun starts finding its way through cloud openings.

Victim of an eroding Lake Michigan shoreline, a tree uprooted years earlier is transformed into a snow sculpture on a dune at Epworth Heights north of Ludington. Finding scenes like this along the Lake Michigan shoreline confirms for me why I am a winter person. Winter is a photographer's friend.

Munising Falls Memories

We found an old garage on the south side of Muskegon with a roof that created the American flag out of shingles. It was the coolest roof that I have ever seen. Someday I would love to do this on my garage.

Like a coating of white feathers, frost decorates sumac branches on a dune overlooking the Sable River Outlet at Ludington State Park. This February scene is the polar opposite of those hot summer days when the Lake Michigan tributary and its banks abound with swimmers and sunbathers. Sable River Outlet is one of the most picturesque spots on Lake Michigan in any season.

I have always wanted to photograph this black horse on US31 near Norwalk, Michigan and today the scene was finally perfect. I have always wanted to photograph this black horse on US31 near Norwalk, Michigan and today the scene was finally perfect.

Fears of a gray day are quickly dispelled by the dawn's early light and color as I look eastward across Ludington harbor toward the Occidental Chemical Corporation plant. This beats the strongest coffee for waking up an outdoor photographer.

Each year many people get engaged in front of Michigan lighthouses. Our good friend, Eric Uitvlugt, recently proposed to his girlfriend at the Grand Haven lighthouse so I named this photo in their honor.

Cool barn! The repetitive patterns provided by this weathered old barn's board and batten siding, tin roof and screened window catch my eye for the first time even though I have passed by the barn before while driving on Gordon Road near Scottville. F4.0 at 1/800, ISO 800, 300 mm lens at 300 mm

Northern Lights

Northern Lights

Winter Workshop

Appearing to be huddling together against the cold, or perhaps just having a conversation about the "just ducky" weather, two male Mallards endure some fowl weather on the Sable River.

Every time I drive by this tree on US10 just before Chase, Michigan, I check it out to see if it is ready to be photographed. On this frigid February morning as two of my best friends, Sarah Genson and Rachel Gaudette, and I are heading across the state on a photo mission, we get out of my truck to make this image. Like usual, we are laughing at each other the entire time.

The 410-foot carferry Badger was completely reflected in a small puddle near its dock tonight during a dramatic sunset. I slowly walked into the middle of the puddle and after the water calmed back down, I made this image. Notice the large triangle in the foreground that comes to a point at the reflected smoke stack.

Mystic Phenomenon - Vertical