Wonderous West Shore

I stood on the tailgate of my truck along Custer Road to make this image. I loved all the layers in this scene and the rolling hills. All I needed to do was wait for the light. As I waited, I Facetimed with my mom, who lives in Germany.

Right after making this image, I found a dirty diaper in the dunes. I was outraged that a parent would be that irresponsible and would litter on the beach at the Ludington State Park.

Before my mother-in-law, Sharon Verduin, passed away from cancer, I remember her telling my kids that when they couldn't fall asleep at night that instead of counting sheep, they should count their blessings. I loved that idea and have done it several times myself and it always makes me smile.

If I had a million dollars, I would buy the three-foot-square piece of land my tripod is sitting on along M-22. I would leave the tripod there for countless others to physically stand in this spot and take in the awe-inspiring view I am enjoying of the Arcadia Lutheran church immersed in a sea of fall color.

It is a glorious morning and I am blessed to be traveling M22 today looking for fall color pictures and anything else that catches my photographic eye. Just north of Onekama I turn off the highway and find myself with a spectacular birds eye view of beautiful Portage Lake.

With our minds on the new photography book that my dad and I are working on that will cover West Michigan, I decided to head north to Frankfort and my dad headed south to Muskegon to photograph the solar eclipse. In this area of Michigan, we witnessed about 75 percent coverage. We also had clouds to battle, but as we often say, clouds are your friend.

People traveled for hundreds or even thousands of miles to experience the total lunar eclipse on August 21, 2017. I chose to travel 65 miles to the Muskegon South Breakwater Lighthouse so I could experience a partial version of the eclipse along Michigan's west shore. It remained relatively bright out but with a short exposure I was able to make the sliver of moon not eclipsed at the peak stand out.

Yesterday my dad and I stood on the north shore of Grand Haven for almost six hours and photographed during the storm. The waves were running 15 feet with an occasional 18-footer. This was the largest wave we saw all day hit the lighthouse and it was well over 20 feet tall. The spray went over 100 feet in the air. I named the photo "Fuel Injected" because after shooting, on the drive back home to Ludington last night, my dad said that having all that wind in his face for so long made him feel alive and fuel injected.

I had already seen a dramatic storm front image Brad made less than two weeks earlier at Duck Lake Outlet. Not a person was in sight when Brad took that picture. Here I am on an August afternoon less than two weeks later with the opportunity to show an entirely different Michigan mood at the same popular spot. Today the outlet is packed with swimmers and sunbathers.

Last week my daughter Julia and I discovered a new road we had not ever driven on. We took Scenic Drive from Whitehall all the way to the Muskegon State Park. Along the way we passed over the Duck Lake Outlet. The light was not good that night, but I knew that I would be back to that spot soon when the conditions were better. Last night I left Ludington about 5:15pm and drove back down to the Duck Lake Outlet. I had no cell signal, but I could see a shelf cloud coming toward me over Lake Michigan. Just before 8pm the storm was on top of me and it started to pour. This was my last shot of the night, and then I ran for cover.

This beautiful tree is on the south shore of Lake Michigan at the Duck Lake Outlet. The strength and perseverance of trees like this along the shores of the Great Lakes always amaze me. The wind, water, snow, ice, and lightning has not stopped this tree from thriving.

Over the last few years, my dad and I have made some many great memories with Team Reed and other workshop students on the beach at the Lake Michigan Campground in the Manistee National Forest. Tonight, we had our Heaven on Hamlin students out there shooting the sunset. It was a gorgeous night.

A solid gold sunset greeted me on the Lake Michigan shoreline this evening. I loved the way the light was playing on the beach and small outlet.

The sand along the Lake Michigan shoreline looks like liquid gold tonight. It is incredible how a late September sunset can transform the appearance of the waterfront.

I will forever be grateful that I was born and raised in Ludington and that I can live, work, and play as an adult in my beautiful hometown. Listening to the sound of Lake Michigan waves slowly brushing the sand along the shoreline at the Ludington State Park tonight, I was also grateful that my kids are now getting to experience the magic of Ludington as their hometown.

My seven-year-old son, Ethan named this photograph for me. I made this image at Bass Lake Outlet on Lake Michigan just north of Pentwater, Michigan. The wind was howling and it was only 12 degrees, but the few seconds of magic light warmed me to the core. I stood in the same place for over an hour and in that time, I only witnessed magic light two different moments for a total of about 15 seconds. To help pass the time and to keep myself warm, I did burpees on the sand dunes.

This morning I photographed McLaren Lake near Hesperia at sunrise. I loved seeing the sunlight shining through the top of the trees and mixing with the fog.

Photos do lie! This photo looks like it was a warm night on the Ludington City Beach. In reality, a storm was blowing in and the wind was bitter cold. It was a great night of shooting the sunset with friends.

By setting my camera directly on the ice that had built up on the Manistee pier, I could capture the sun dancing on the ripples. Generally, we use tripods, but sometimes the only way to get the immediacy in our photographs, is to improvise.

Open water is often difficult for Michigan waterfowl to find during the heart of winter. This mute swan rests on the ice on Lincoln Lake while taking a break from feeding in adjacent open water.