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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

It is hard to imagine expensive jewels looking more beautiful than these birch leaves I have discovered along one of Michigan's lightly traveled unpaved roads. I sometimes wish more people could discover the world of wonder awaiting them on dirt roads. Then again, sometimes there is more of a sense of discovery knowing you are among the few who get to marvel at the sight.

I have always loved looking at blue jays. The house I grew up in on the corner of Pere Marquette and Ferry Street in Ludington frequently had blue jays in the yard. I have fond memories of sitting on our porch when I was little, watching the blue jays harassing all the other birds in the yard.

October 28 2012

Epworth On Ice

Evening Tranquility

Converging Falls

It was another dreary day here. As sunset drew closer, I decided to take an abstract view on the day. These three pine trees in my yard are pretty ordinary but zooming while exposing gives them a dreamy feel.

Few places on Earth offer as grand a view of the sky as the east shore of Lake Michigan. Hikers on the Ludington South Breakwater provide a sense of scale to show the size of storm front clouds arriving in Michigan from Wisconsin.

Cows curious about a visitor lined a fence while two others checked things out from the flapped doorway that allowed them to go in and out of their barn as they pleased. I always looked forward to seeing the cows at a farm along Fountain Road in northern Mason County.

Seagulls along Lake Michigan have a reputation for being less than desirable. They seem to have pinpoint accuracy when it comes to leaving their marks on car windshields. I have also seen many seagulls pester Ludington tourists for a taste of their House of Flavors ice cream, or help themselves to picnic lunches while beachgoers enjoy a swim. All that aside, I think seagulls are beautiful creatures and they are a joy to photograph.

My seventh grade science teacher, Diana Kuras, stopped me in the road today and told me about a giant sunbow over Lake Michigan. I was heading out to Summit Township at the time for a Super Bowl party at our friends Paul and Lisa Cooper's new house. It was the largest, most distinct sunbow I had ever witnessed. F22.0 at 1/50, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 20 mm

My aunt and uncle, Sue and Randy Marble, just purchased a large canvas of this photograph of the White Birch Forest. This incredible forest is about 16 miles west of Grand Marais on Alger County Road H-58. The first week of October is often a good time to visit the White Birch Forest to see the surrounding maple trees in peak fall color.

Looking like giant Oreo cookies, these striking cattle graced Larry and Jo Sholtey’s Beef and Bees Farm along South Lakeshore Drive between Ludington and Pentwater. Commonly referred to as Oreo Cookie cows, they are more accurately named belted Galloways, a rare breed of Scottish beef cattle. Larry Sholtey had grown up on a farm. He and Jo raised and showed the distinctive, thick-coated cattle for many years after their retirement from Ludington High School, where Jo taught and Larry was principal. I always enjoyed seeing the “Cookie Cows,” occasionally stopping when I thought I saw the makings of a good photograph. I made several images over the years that pleased me but none that wowed me. Then one summer afternoon I spotted them grazing on some Queen Anne’s Lace in a corner of their pasture. I couldn’t stop fast enough. I had not visualized this picture, but I instantly recognized how extraordinary it was. Untold numbers of passersby enjoyed seeing Larry and Jo’s cattle until Larry became too ill to care for them. I will always be grateful to Jo and Larry, for happily and graciously sharing these beautiful creatures with me and countless other passersby

This fat barn cat owned by my Papa Bill and Nana Bev was fixated on the small song birds that were fluttered around the bird feeder. I was on the hunt for a photograph of the albino squirrel that my grandparents kept seeing. This cat was on the hunt for his next tasty treat. Neither of us were successful in our hunts today.

Underwater Lincoln River

Blasted

Last night after I got done watching a movie at the theater, I drove out to the First Curve on M116 at the Ludington State Park to see if the Northern Lights were out. I knew they had been out the night before, but the clouds were so thick in our area, you couldn't get a good photo of them. The application, Aurora Forecast, that I use on my iPhone, was measuring a level 5 on the KP scale. Usually at a level 5, you can see a tiny bit of color with a trained eye and some of the white pillars if they are out, but your camera will pick up the color much better. Standing in the parking lot of the First Curve, I could see the white pillars, but no color. It took me a few minutes to get my boots, warm clothes, headlamp, and hat on and to get my camera pre-set at the truck. I hustled up the small dune to the north of where I parked with my camera and tripod and this was the first exposure I made. It turned out to be the best shot of the night because the light show was short lived. The red light in the foreground is from a car's headlights as it was approaching from behind me at the very end of the exposure. I was fired up to say the least.

Legends Deer Ranch

Team Reed photographers Brad Reed, Rachel Gaudette, Dustin Kunkel and I were teaching a five-day workshop at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park at the west end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in October 2018 when I made this image at often-overlooked, Overlooked Falls. The fifth day in a row of rain didn’t stop us or our workshop students from finding and making good photographs. This “bad weather” workshop reconfirmed for me what I already knew; rain can be an outdoor photographer’s friend. My Nikon D850 and I survived and thrived in the rain.