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No one knows the lower stretch of the Pere Marquette River better than Ralph Anderson. Whenever the steelhead are running, it seems Ralph is on the river angling to land one. I admire Ralph's passion for trout fishing and his love of the river. People like Ralph understand what an amazing outdoorsman's paradise Michigan is. F2.8 at 1/640, ISO 1600, 300mm lens at 300mm

Breath of Life

A Sunday ride on an autumn afternoon is one of the best things about Michigan. We all have favorite spots we visit year after year to check out the fall color. This is my favorite tunnel of trees and the best image I have ever made there. I had been driving Conrad Road between Ludington and Scottville east and west for days to check the progress of the leaf color change on the massive old maple trees lining each side of the Polcin Farm. On this day, October 10, 2010, the trees and the light looked picture perfect. I set up my tripod in the middle of the road and carefully designed the image in my viewfinder. My camera had live-view capability, but I have studied images in a viewfinder for so long, I prefer, if the situation permits, to be able to still see the world through that little eye hole. I made certain to include everything inside the borders of my viewfinder that I wanted and to include nothing I did not want. Unless we are photographing fast-moving objects where it is impossible to see and evaluate everything visible through the finder instantaneously, Brad and I each painstakingly try to finish in-camera the composition of every image we make. Most of our artwork is therefore created in a 2X by 3X proportion because that is the proportion of traditional 35-millimeter film and now traditionally-proportioned digital sensors. I loved everything I saw in the viewfinder when I triggered my cable shutter release at this moment. Moments later, two people on bicycles pedaled over the hill at the back of the scene. I fired off a few quick shots to capture a peak moment of this added ingredient to the scene. Brad and I like to teach our workshop students that if an element doesn’t add to a scene, it probably detracts. The bicycle riders definitely added a human and storytelling element and, dwarfed by the giant trees, a “little person in the big world” sense of scale. As fine art, I prefer the naturalness of the image I made without the bicyclists, and that is why I selected that one for this book. But the storytelling image with the bicyclists is the one that the national-award-winning Pure Michigan tourism promotion campaign selected for billboards. They wanted the people looking at those billboards to imagine themselves pedaling their bikes in such a spectacular Michigan place. Brad and I pride ourselves on being visual storytellers; I love telling Michigan’s beautiful stories with my cameras.

How can one not bond with Bond Falls? I fell in love with Bond Falls the first time I visited there years ago. The magnificent Michigan Upper Peninsula waterfall has been drawing me back ever since. It was nearly dark already when my wife, Debbie, and I climbed the stairs to get to this spot during a September 27, 2013 visit. While my mind’s eye was yearning for more daylight, my tripod-mounted camera was able to accumulate enough light during a 30-second exposure to brighten the scene. The outcome from the movement of the water during that time made this my all-time favorite Bond Falls image.

 What better way to spend a beautiful fall day than traveling across Lake Michigan on the SS Badger on our way to shoot the vibrant color in the Upper Peninsula. Todd and Debbie Reed, Brad and Betsy Reed, Sarah Genson and I decided to have a fall get-away to the UP. It was a bright sun, blue sky, warm breeze, and smooth sailing way to start our journey. We then traveled through Wisconsin towards the Porcupine Mountains. We knew we wanted to make a stop at Bond Falls, and the closer it got to dark, the more worried we were that we would miss shooting the sunset there. We made it, got our waterproof clothing on and hurried to the falls. It was a stunning experience and a great way to end our first day of shooting!

After a long history of catching fish on the Great Lakes, the fishing tug Richard E. is now moored at the Manistee, Michigan ship museum site. I admire the ruggedness of these sturdy vessels and the men and women who went to sea in them. F5 at 1/80, ISO 3200, 24-70mm lens at 40mm

Storm in Grand Haven

Course of Nature

Falling Down

Kickin

Floating lazily down the Sauble River toward Lake Michigan, a maple leaf drifts over rocky shallows. They say good things happen to those who wait; finding a good backdrop and waiting for the subject to come into it is relaxing and often rewarding.

Tuesdays With Todd and Brad Reed

A few years ago, they took the catwalk down off the pier in Grand Haven. Tonight was my first time photographing the lighthouses without the catwalk being in place. I have heard that a private group is trying to raise enough money to pay to have the catwalk refurbished and then put back into place. I hope that happens soon!

Emerging from the White Birch Forest in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore after searching for images of the birch trees and maple leaves in autumn color, I was about to put my camera equipment back in my trusty Suburban when I took in this view less than 50 yards away. It looked and felt like a melody of color, pattern, and texture.

Tuesdays With Todd and Brad Reed

Sometimes it seems like we wait forever for the leaves to turn along the shores of the inland lakes tied to Lake Michigan. Then, seemingly overnight, a glorious change greets us on a morning like this one on Hamlin Lake. My son Brad and I encountered this fleeting scene at Victory Park on Upper Hamlin Lake in mid-October. Brad was still running with tripod and camera for a different vantage point while I made this picture along the park waterfront. Fortunately, I got off one shot before a cloud dropped the curtain on the fall color light show.

I am at first overwhelmed by all the color and patterns bombarding my senses amidst the birch trees and maple leaves in the famous White Birch Forest. I know not to hurry. Finally, I find my prize. The patterns of these maple leaves and birch bark are music to my eyes. I have probably spent an hour looking for strong compositions in this magical forest in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Every minute has been a joy. F11 at 1/250, ISO 800, 300mm lens at 300mm

Tuesdays With Todd and Brad Reed

The first two weeks of October are a glorious time of year along the Lake Michigan shoreline. For several decades, I have told my photography students more often than they want to hear, “Clouds are your friends.” Early October is a great time to experience sunshine, fresh breeze and crisp, clear air painted with billowy clouds. When these conditions exist, the dune grasses and beaches appear most alive, and so do I! I visualized this image months before making it about 2001 when we lived near Lake Michigan at Crosswinds south of Ludington. My beloved Labrador retriever Beamer and I passed this spot during our daily hikes through the dunes to and from the beach. For several months, this particular stand of dune grass stood out to me from hundreds of others. I wouldn’t let Beamer go near it because I knew it had the makings of a great image; I imagined what the scene would look like in the sharp “magic light” of October. One early October morning, as Beamer and I were passing by this special spot, there it was! Mother Nature had brought all the ingredients together. All I had to do was turn around and take Beamer back home, grab my Nikon F100 and tripod and finish making the photograph. Since I had the image designed in my mind for months, all that was left to do now was fine-tune it artistically and nail it technically. That meant applying years of experience to make certain I made a perfect exposure on the Fuji Velvia transparency film I was using at the time. Almost two decades later, this image remains one of my favorite lakeshore images because it is so experiential for me and others. Brad and I say good photography is all about feeling. I can touch, taste and smell this image. I think a lot of other people feel the same way. The image puts me there; it puts others there.

The skill and determination of the anglers who surf fish along the Lake Michigan shoreline is inspiring. Wind, waves, rain, and even lightning do not appear to deter the fishing desire of the most aggressive anglers.