Winter

It looks like what I like to call a "Colorado Day" in Michigan with sunshine and blue skies as my son Brad makes his first run of the year down the reworked Loki run at Crystal Mountain near Thompsonville. Our family has always loved winter and skiing in Northern Michigan is one of our favorite winter adventures.

When Julia, Ethan, and I walked outside of my brother and sister-in-law's house after a pre-Christmas family gathering, Ethan commented on how clear the sky was. We hopped in my truck and drove to the North Bayou of Hamlin Lake to get a clearer view of the Milky Way. Standing there, looking up at the million stars above our heads, I felt so blessed to have such a tight family connection here on Earth.

Photography for my son Brad is always an action sport. Therefore it made perfect sense to have a mountable Go Pro camera so that others can see and experience what Brad is experiencing as he is making outdoor photographs during outdoor adventures. I plan to make good use of the camera as well.

The battle between ships and mariners and the elements has intrigued me since I was young boy watching on the Ludington waterfront from my parents’ and grandparents’ automobiles as one or more of the several Ludington carferries still operating at the time fought their way through strong ice or fierce waves en route to and from Wisconsin. I never lost that fascination. When I became a journalist and photojournalist for the Ludington Daily News in 1970, I loved keeping an eye out for photo opportunities involving Lake Michigan boat and ship traffic. The carferries were my favorite muse, not only because I loved watching them but because the big ships were a vital segment of the local economy, and most of our readers had ties to them or at least enjoyed seeing them in action through my newspaper photographs. The big black ships with white trim also lent themselves perfectly to black and white photography, especially during the winter. Of the tens of thousands of carferry images I have made over the years, this one is my favorite black and white carferry photograph. On January 27, 1977, the 35-knot westerly winds of an arctic storm had driven ice shoreward and packed it tight like a giant trash compacter at the Ludington harbor entrance. The powerful, coal-fired steamships with extra-strong hulls for ice breaking could usually bulldoze their way through the ice, but this ice was packed 25-foot deep, leaving the City of Midland (right) nowhere to displace it as the ship attempted to steam that morning to Wisconsin with its load of railroad freight cars. The Midland ground to a halt just outside the harbor entrance. Several hours later, another C&O carferry, Spartan (left) became stuck while attempting to steam out past the Midland and break a path to open water. She ground to a halt just beyond the lighthouse. The ships fought the ice for hours, with assistance from the tugboat Mary Page Hannah. I took a lot of shots (too many, some might say) trying to capture peak moments. As evening approached, the two ships were now facing bow to bow with the lighthouse between them. While the Rule of Thirds is one of the age-old guidelines for composition, I looked at this scene and said to myself, what are the odds of these two great ships being so symmetrically positioned with a lighthouse between them? This was a time to break the rules if I ever saw one. To make the image even more symmetrical and three-dimensional, I backed up my camera position to include more of the two shadowy ice mounds. A lot of perseverance, thought and work went in to making this image. I gave it my best shot and was rewarded with one of my best shots ever. It doesn’t always work out that way, but, even with a good shot in the bank, I have long stood fast at changing scenes waiting for the big money shot.

Celebrating a New Year

Today we got our GoPro waterproof sports action camera in the mail so we had to immediately put it through the paces while downhill skiing at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort. The tiny camera shoots high definition video and beautiful still images. This is a self-portrait I made as I was riding up the chairlift just as the golden sun was setting.

The State Park Sand Dunes

When the Lake Michigan shoreline builds up with snow and ice it becomes a playground for thrill-seeking photographers. I love seeing and hearing the waves slam themselves into the ice and explode into a furious spray, as though the waves and ice are at war with each other.

A shark in Ludington? This large "fin" protruding from the icy surface of Ludington Municipal Marina immediately takes me back in time to the movie Jaws. F13.0 at 1/400, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm

 

The battle between ships and mariners and the elements has intrigued me since I was young boy watching on the Ludington waterfront from my parents’ and grandparents’ automobiles as one or more of the several Ludington carferries still operating at the time fought their way through strong ice or fierce waves en route to and from Wisconsin. I never lost that fascination. When I became a journalist and photojournalist for the Ludington Daily News in 1970, I loved keeping an eye out for photo opportunities involving Lake Michigan boat and ship traffic. The carferries were my favorite muse, not only because I loved watching them but because the big ships were a vital segment of the local economy, and most of our readers had ties to them or at least enjoyed seeing them in action through my newspaper photographs. The big black ships with white trim also lent themselves perfectly to black and white photography, especially during the winter. Of the tens of thousands of carferry images I have made over the years, this one is my favorite black and white carferry photograph. On January 27, 1977, the 35-knot westerly winds of an arctic storm had driven ice shoreward and packed it tight like a giant trash compacter at the Ludington harbor entrance. The powerful, coal-fired steamships with extra-strong hulls for ice breaking could usually bulldoze their way through the ice, but this ice was packed 25-foot deep, leaving the City of Midland (right) nowhere to displace it as the ship attempted to steam that morning to Wisconsin with its load of railroad freight cars. The Midland ground to a halt just outside the harbor entrance. Several hours later, another C&O carferry, Spartan (left) became stuck while attempting to steam out past the Midland and break a path to open water. She ground to a halt just beyond the lighthouse. The ships fought the ice for hours, with assistance from the tugboat Mary Page Hannah. I took a lot of shots (too many, some might say) trying to capture peak moments. As evening approached, the two ships were now facing bow to bow with the lighthouse between them. While the Rule of Thirds is one of the age-old guidelines for composition, I looked at this scene and said to myself, what are the odds of these two great ships being so symmetrically positioned with a lighthouse between them? This was a time to break the rules if I ever saw one. To make the image even more symmetrical and three-dimensional, I backed up my camera position to include more of the two shadowy ice mounds. A lot of perseverance, thought and work went in to making this image. I gave it my best shot and was rewarded with one of my best shots ever. It doesn’t always work out that way, but, even with a good shot in the bank, I have long stood fast at changing scenes waiting for the big money shot.

365 Week 13

I was blessed to grow up in a downhill skiing family. Thankfully I have been able to pass that sport on to my family. My daughter Julia has always had a need for speed in everything she does. This is her carving a turn on Cheers at Crystal Mountain during a hard snowfall. Life is good!

I have always been fascinated by pointillism and how colors can be blended to make something larger and more fantastic. While photographing the rocks in front of Big Point Sable Lighthouse at Ludington State Park, I was impressed by the small "points" of color on the water, rocks, and ice and how the colors blended to create a wonderful image.

I have watched this solitary soldier appear to stand guard over the graves of veterans in Lakeview Cemetery, north of Ludington, for years. I find it fascinating to see the scenes change around the stone soldier as the seasons come and go.

It is exhilarating to watch the white canvas of snow being painted by the bright colors of a Lake Michigan sunset. A snow-covered, wind-blown sand dune along the west edge of M-116 was my canvas of choice on this January evening.

My wife Debbie is busy studying for one of her nursing classes so I decide to take a Sunday drive northeast through the countryside. Forty-five minutes later, near Natahka in the southwest corner of Lake County, I am attracted to a birch tree and rustic wood structure that have beautifully grown old together. F14.0 at 1/80, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 80 mm

Epworth On Ice

One of the most rewarding aspects of driving through the countryside from Point to Point is discovering and rediscovering, the many picturesque farms. Some retain much of the appearance they had a century ago. A traditional farm on Hawley Road, south of Scottville, was aglow as the sun dropped beneath the clouds just before setting.

Underwater Lincoln River