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Rainbow Over the Dummy Bridge

On an August evening during a photo trek to Big Point Sable Lighthouse I faced a momentary dilemma. I was shooting an extremely dramatic sunset over Lake Michigan to the west when I looked back to the east to see if the sky was "painting" the lighthouse with its brilliant color. As I turned what caught my eye was not the lighthouse-bathed in pink but the moon rising over a gorgeously "painted" dune just north of the lighthouse. The light was splendid and momentary. I knew there was not time to shoot all three pictures. While I was vacillating, my wife was decisive, declaring: "Shoot the moon!" So, I did. Thank you, Debbie!

I love watching people's reactions to this photograph. I have found that people either really like this image or they don't. Personally, this is one of my favorite photographs I have ever taken. That is the beauty of art. It is in the eye of the beholder.

Frost coats almost everything along the Pere Marquette River this morning. I make a picture of a frost-covered bush with the river as background. Then, following the "twice-as-close rule" Brad and I teach, I start looking for closer pictures. Just a few footsteps closer to the river I find it. Queen Anne's Lace laced with frost looks like a Crown Jewel. F22.0 at 1/160, ISO 400, 105 mm lens at 105 mm

The Lake Michigan shoreline was glowing orange tonight and the dune grass looked like it was on fire. Using a telephoto lens, I could isolate a section of grass that was particularly beautiful.

This historic barn in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore south of Leland has been a photographic muse of mine for several years. When I photographed it after a heavy snowfall earlier this year I noticed the star ornament near the peak of the barn roof. I am thinking this grand old structure certainly looks like an autumn star today.

Standup paddle surfer Larry Bordine cruises past the ice-covered Frankfort, Michigan breakwater . Larry is among the hardy Michiganders that make surfing a four-season adventure on Lake Michigan.

Rainbows Over the Lincoln

Prince of the Forest

Welcoming Winter

For weeks I have wanted to make a photograph of seagulls sitting on the dock posts at the Loomis Street Boat Ramp, but every time I got close enough they flew away. Today I took a different approach. I did the "run and gun" and it worked. I manually set my exposure ahead of time and ran as fast as I could up to the docks. F9.0 at 1/1600, ISO 100, 18-50 mm lens at 50 mm

The forests of Michigan ebb and flow in response to the forces of nature and man. I am increasingly aware of the life cycle of trees and how dead trees can still be attractive, especially with just the right complement of living things around them. I found this dead tree in a tiny lake near Glen Arbor to be strangely beautiful.

Reflecting on Life

Shadow Waves

Betsie River near Crystal Mountain

Waves rush ashore at Point Betsie Light Station on a late winter afternoon. Point Betsie is one of Michigan's most distinctive and beautiful lighthouses.

My son, Brad and I climbed for half an hour to arrive at this dune vantage point on Hamlin Lake. Our family made several summer trips to the dunes and was always rewarded with good pictures and great experiences.

Talk about a traffic stopper. Responding to a tip about some cool looking cows pastured along 72nd Avenue north of Hart, I had no idea they would be this impressive. As I slow to a stop on the side of the road, I attract their attention. I am far more excited and impressed than they are. F6.3 at 1/500, ISO 100, 80-200 mm lens at 200 mm

Marshall, Michigan appears to me to be one of those small American towns where time stood still in the best way. While Greenfield Village near Detroit recreates the beauty and charm of the American small towns of the past, Marshall is a real town whose residents have made it a community mission to preserve and restore the past look and luster of its downtown as well as its neighborhoods.

When I made this image of Northern Lights on October 24, 2011, I was the lone photographer on the Ludington South Breakwater. In recent years, since the advent of Facebook and cell phone apps to alert photographers to the presence of Aurora Borealis, or the potential for them to appear, I am seldom alone whenever I travel to the Lake Michigan shoreline to attempt to catch a light show.