Wonderous West Shore

My dad and I wait all year for the middle of October. It is our favorite time of year to make photographs in Michigan because the quality of the light is the best. We call it "magic light" when it is raining, but the sun is out. Looking over Lake Michigan, I could see a storm front making its way towards us, so I waited on the beach in Pentwater for over an hour for two minutes of "magic light".

Hamlin Lake looks like a mirror this ice-cold morning at Ludington State Park. I am delighted to have risen early to view this scene in dawn's early light.

I was in awe of the giant bolts of lightning striking Lake Michigan as I stood on the beach at the end of Ludington Avenue during a fierce September electrical storm. One massive bolt after another came crashing down and I was lucky enough to capture one that split on both sides of the lighthouse. When I downloaded the photo the next day, my dad quickly noticed that the bolt looked like the lower peninsula of Michigan.

I stood in one spot on a dune above the beach in Pentwater while waiting over an hour for the magic light to appear. In that time, I used a spherical perspective to imagine what different compositions would be in nearby locations. I knew that once the light appeared, I would try to make one of my shots from the water's edge and would have to lie on my stomach to capture it. My previsualization paid off. In two minutes, I made four strong images from four different spots that were all within 40 yards of my original spot on top of the dune.

Mid-May is one of my favorite times of the year. The woodlands are coming to life and there seems to be a new visual discovery to be made at every turn. I love the way trillium were blooming at the base of a tree trunk along M22 near Empire.

While hanging out of the window of a small airplane and trying to photograph the Ludington City Beach, I noticed this beautiful speedboat anchored and enjoying the calm water on Lake Michigan. We teach our workshop students to look for scenes like this where there is a small person or object in the big world.

I never tire of photographing the Ludington lighthouse, especially when it looks as magical as on this frigid January morning. I have gotten in place before sunrise, anticipating sun and steam as soon as the sun can hit the lighthouse and Lake Michigan waters around it.

Self-righting motor lifeboats like this Coast Guard Auxiliary vessel are designed to survive and thrive in high seas. This 44-foot vessel, 44359, crushes a large Lake Michigan wave during a patrol from Port Sheldon to Muskegon. I had the honor and privilege of driving 44s for over 25 years.

The brilliantly colored rocks along the Lake Michigan shoreline at Point Betsie Lighthouse make the perfect foreground for our photographs. Today, with several workshop students, we found a storm pool just south of the lighthouse. I lay on my stomach and put my tripod very low to capture the reflection of Point Betsie Lighthouse in the storm pool. The light rain we had a few minutes earlier made all the rocks wet, which in turn made them more colorful.

Sleepy Time – Brad Reed While my aunt Sheryl was vacuuming her living room, she looked through the large picture window and noticed a fawn sleeping peacefully in her pachysandra bushes right next to the house. She immediately called my dad and me and we rushed over with our cameras. I put my lens right on the glass of the window and made this image. I love the heart shape of the bushes that surrounds the beautiful sleeping fawn. Nikon D800. F1.4 at 1/640, ISO 100. 85mm lens at 85mm. On a tripod without a flash. May 13, 2014 at 9:59am.

I love seeing the Michigan countryside flowers. Sweet pea along a farm fence line looked as pretty to me as any flower arrangement I can imagine. I am glad that I took a less-traveled road on this July 2017 day while meandering between Whitehall and Hart.

Traveling byways instead of freeways and highways is slower but gives me more new places to discover and more time to appreciate the views. After years of traveling byways throughout Michigan, I was stunned on January 31, 2017, during a meandering back roads drive through Oceana County to discover a barn I had never seen before. My view through snowflakes of this distinctive old barn made it seem to me like I could have been looking at an Andrew Wyeth painting. I had been an Andrew Wyeth fan for years; I think he could not have resisted painting this barn on this winter’s day if he had been there instead of me. The falling snow and blanket of snow on the barn roof and ground added to and emphasized the limited color palette of the scene. I loved the muted color of the grasses sticking out of the snow. I had only to find the best position from which to fit the layers of the scene perfectly together and “paint” the arrangement with light on the sensor of my Nikon D800 digital camera.

Often when my dad and I travel together in his truck on photo adventures and he is driving, I am worn out by the later afternoon. It is a common occurrence for me to take a nap in the truck while he continues to look for photographs. Today at Stocking Drive at the Sleeping Bear Dunes, I woke up from a long nap to find my dad photographing some trillium he had found alongside the road. I dragged myself out of the truck and grabbed my camera and started looking for my own photographs. Soon I was full of adrenaline and wide-awake making this image of a lone trillium. Nikon D800. F2.8 at 1/5000, ISO 1600. 14-24mm lens at 14mm. Handheld without a flash. May 16, 2017 at 4:49pm

Michigan abounds with new life in spring. I love traveling the countryside looking for views like this one along Iris Road in Mason County.

When I finished photographing some pine trees covered in snow near Bear Lake, Michigan, I turned around slowly in waist deep snow to walk back to my truck. As I turned, I was pleasantly surprised with this scene. The pine tree shot was cool, but this scene was world class. I love these kinds of photographic surprises!

Having captained Coast Guard boats on Lake Michigan for 30 years, I especially identify with the Mariner's sculpture in Ludington's Waterfront Park. I have the greatest respect for all Great Lakes sailors, including those heading for Wisconsin this evening on the carferry Badger.

I am looking from the deck of my Ludington home at one of the most dramatic skies I have ever seen. These rare mammatus clouds are sweeping ashore behind a storm that rushed through earlier. This is an amazing calm after the storm.

I had been in the indoor swimming pool with my kids all afternoon at my dad and stepmom's new condo and not paying attention to the sky. Our employee, Aubry Healy, texted me a cell phone shot she had made up near Onekama of some pretty awesome clouds. I told the kids it was time to go upstairs and get changed. When we got upstairs and looked out over Lake Michigan, my jaw hit the ground and I went into full "storm chaser" mode. I knew I had missed my chances of getting a good shot in Ludington, but I calculated that if I drove down to Little Sable Point Lighthouse near Silver Lake, I might be able to get the shelf cloud over the lighthouse. After a long 30-minute drive, I was in position waiting for the storm and shelf cloud to arrive. Within 15 more minutes, the rolling clouds were upon me. I was on the bright side of the storm so the lighthouse was lit in magic light. I waited until the cloud was in just the right location in relation to the top of the lighthouse and clicked the shutter. My grin was from ear to ear as my heart was racing with excitement. My dad and I live to chase Lake Michigan storms!

Photographing Michigan commercial fishing operations has long been one of my photographic muses. On this day I was struck with how the light was coming through a gill net wound on a reel at historic Fish Town in Leland.

I enjoy isolating a scene by using a telephoto lens. Often the best color and most intense light can be captured best by zooming in on one small area. Tonight, along the Lake Michigan shoreline, I used a 200mm lens on a cropped sensor camera so I essentially had a 300mm lens.