Summer

My son Brad is in position to photograph dawn's early light on Isle Royale. We are on the 45-mile-long main island of the Isle Royale archipelago. Another action-packed day of exploring and photographing Michigan's only National Park lies ahead of us. The large waves we encountered a day ago on our ship voyage from Houghton to Isle Royale have now disappeared. Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world, has turned into a mirror overnight.

I watched in awe for two hours as wave after enormous wave slammed into the Ludington North Breakwater Lighthouse on February 24, 2019. I have rarely witnessed or photographed bigger or more frequent waves exploding against the seemingly invincible structure. Many of my several hundred exposures show water flying up to 100 feet in the air and the lighthouse nowhere to be seen. Persistence paid off when I finally caught one huge descending wave still higher than the lighthouse as the next one shot skyward above the lighthouse during its ascension. I had never seen two waves tower above the Ludington lighthouse at once. I was fortunate to artistically document the rare moment.

Beach Bums

I could not resist exploring this cave Brad and I found while hiking on Isle Royale. The rugged yet beautiful view looking out of the cave made working my way inside well worth the effort.

Todd Reed

Aerial Photos

If you like rugged places, come to Isle Royale. My son Brad has managed to work his way to the top of a rocky cliff to check out the view. I am appreciating the ruggedness of the view looking upward.

Lake Michigan Sunset in Ludington

Bass Lake Chairs

Wednesday

Ludington lovers - residents and visitors alike - join together to break the Guiness World Record for the number of people making sand angels at once. Spectrum Health Foundation teamed up with West Shore Bank to enable 1,387 people to simultaneously make the sand angels on the Ludington beach on June 10, 2017.

I have set sail in my 13-foot Boston Whaler skiff tonight to try to make some sunset images from on the water. I don't have to walk on water to position the boat right where I want to be able to make this image. I love my little boat!

Dune Grass Delight

The Love Ludington committee worked together with the city police and fire departments to coordinate this amazing event in downtown Ludington. I shot this photograph from 100 feet in the air in the bucket of the ladder truck. The view from that height was incredible. Over 200 passionate Ludington residents and visitors stood inside of the heart shaped outline. If you look closely, you will see my daughter Julia holding the reigns of a horse!

Ludington Lighthouse

I cannot imagine a more beautiful location across America for a summer concert than Ludington's Waterfront Park. On this July evening the park is filled with West Shore Bank Rhythm & Dunes concert goers as the Lake Michigan Carferry Badger steams past on one of its daily Lake Michigan crossings to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The Rhythm & Dunes concerts are one of the highlight events of summer in Ludington.

Purple Passion

There are more monarch butterflies than people enjoying Dow Gardens in Midland today. Brad and I are delighted to be among only a handful of people appreciating one of Michigan's most beautiful gardens this morning.

I know photographers who set up feeding stations and sophisticated lighting systems to increase their odds of making fabulous photographs of hummingbirds. I appreciate the thought and work that goes into that style of shooting as well as the outcome. As for me, my unplanned, unexpected encounter with this hummingbird at Dow Gardens in Midland is the kind of hunting in the wild approach I prefer. My adrenaline is flying off the charts but I have to work fast and smart to capture the hummingbird image I have always dreamed of making.

“Top Shelf” – Storm cloud races ashore near Big Sable Point