On a recent visit to an area near South Haven, Michigan I was treated to the beauty that abounds along the shores of Lake Michigan. Enjoy!
“Heading Down to the Beach” What a perfect view of Lake Michigan’s splendor as you begin descending the stairs to the beach! “Sublime” The coolness of the water offshore created a fog which combined with the beautiful clouds and sun gave a wonderful ethereal feel to this beach view!“Sand and Stones Random” I always enjoy looking down at the myriad of stones along any beach. These are some colorful ones seen along my beach walk. “Sun Going Down on Me” A spectacular and glowing end to the day! Perfect! “Beach Grass Sunset” Taking in just one last look at the amazing colorful clouds during the final minutes after the sun had set. The beach grass in silhouette really gave this scene an even better feel for me.
These are just a few of my more recent images. I know many of us during this last year have had limited travel and I have been one of them. I’m hoping that this summer will be the start of getting back to a more normal schedule, and also for posting more on this blog.
I wish all of you the very best and I wish you happy travels, enjoyable times with family and friends, and please stay safe.
Here we are in December, almost the end of the year! Time for my “Best of 2018” photographs!
As I’ve done for many years in a row now, I’ve looked through my images over the last year and found the ones that I like the best. These are my personal favorites. Some of the images you may have seen before, and others maybe not. I hope you’ll take the time to look through this assortment of photographs and I surely hope you will enjoy them!
I wish all of you the very best during this Holiday Season, and into the New Year! My warmest wishes to everyone for a happy, adventurous, prosperous, and beautiful New Year in every aspect of your lives!
“Floating on a Summer Breeze”“Point Pelee Reflections”“That Motor City View 2”“Jackson Park in Spring”“From a Golden Perspective”“Forest Canopy”“Sweet Autumn Memories”“November Fifth Remembered”“One Fine November Morning”“As Winter Leaves Niagara Mono”“Last Light on the Farm”
I customarily show ten images each year in my end of the year post, but I leave you with one extra photograph this year of a peaceful sunset on a farm.
I wish for all of you peace, blessings and harmony always!
Today is the first day of autumn and in SE. Michigan it sure has come in with strong gusty winds! We even had a few trees and tree limbs down in the area.
I wanted to share with you a few images that were made in these last days or weeks, a bit of summer’s end in the country!
It was a hot summer here and I’m sure ready for a change!
Bring on the cool weather and brilliant leaves!
“Gentle End to Summer” Days last light over a rural cornfield as summer heads into fall!
“The Path Taken” Late summer days walking through paths surrounded by goldenrod!
“Summer Sunflower Bounty” Enjoying abundant sunflowers in late summer!
‘Country Road Sunset” Heading home into a brilliant sunset on a back country road!
I just happened to be heading home when the sky lit up just before the sun dipped down. Of course I had to pull over.
The days will be getting much shorter really soon, and not long after that, sunset will be accompanied by snow on the ground.
Enjoy these days of fall, and remember fondly summer’s end!
This year has gone by really quickly. So much so that I didn’t think I would actually have time to get together my usual end of the year post. These ten images are my personal favorites for the year, or my “Best of 2017”.
This is the 6th year that I have done a “Best of” at the end of the year, and I would like to thank Jim Goldstein for graciously hosting the Best Photos Project each year. You can check out mine and many many other photographers end of the year posts on his blog!
If you would like to see my “Best of” for 2016, you can find that here.
Also if you’d like to go back to 2015, you can check that out here.
“Silo Sunset’ One of my favorite sunsets of this year!
After a very stormy spring day in SE. Michigan I was happily surprised by an amazing array of clouds as they moved quickly by during a sunset on a local farm!
“Peace of Autumn’s Song” Beautiful reflections on an early autumn day!
You’ll see this lake featured twice here in this post. This image was on a cloudy and extremely still, fall day. The trees, especially the birches gave beautiful reflections in the water!
“Leaves in Gold and Bronze” Fallen leaves in shades of gold.
After all of the leaves had fallen and nothing was left except the crunch of brown and gold underfoot I decided to make just a few images of these beauties!
“Effervescent Glow” Lovely sparkling dewdrops on the grass in the early morning!
I had a lot of fun during a couple of fresh and dewy mornings this year photographing the sunlight as it danced off of the dewdrops in the grass. As a lot of you know, I love nature abstracts!
“In Love with Life” Lovely tulips at the 2017 Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan.
I was extremely happy to have had the opportunity to go to The Tulip Festival in Holland, MI. this past spring!
“The Stones” Beautiful and very colorful stones from Lake Superior!
Every time I’m in Marquette, Michigan I always enjoy the beautiful assortment of rocks and stones in the area. These colorful stones on Presque Isle are some of my favorites!
“Presque Isle Sunset Glow 2” A wonderful sunset from Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan.
While at Presque Isle Park I almost always make time to stay for the sunset. It almost never dissapoints!
“Munising Falls Gold” A golden start to autumn at Munising Falls in Munising, Michigan!
Munising Falls is beautiful no matter what time of year, but fall is always my favorite!
“When in Love” This was an especially beautiful day along Lake Plumbago in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan!
Lake Plumbago is one of those places I pass by quite often while in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I would have to say that for me it has almost always been foggy and or raining when I pass by. That of course has its own beauty, and I have plenty of photos from that type of weather, but this time there was a striking difference, and actually quite welcomed!
“Windermere Hotel Mackinac Island” One of my favorite places to stay on Mackinac Island!
I have always loved the look of yellow houses with white picket fences, so naturally the first time I set eyes upon the Windermere Hotel on Mackinac Island, it became a must for me to stay there! It is filled with Victorian charm and has such a lovely presence on the Island.
It just happened that this year while on the Island I was graced with bright blue skies which made a wonderful contrast to the beautiful yellow color of the Windermere!
I hope you’ve enjoyed a tiny glimpse into the year of 2017 with me. I wish all of you a very Happy and prosperous New Year, both in your lives and in your photographic adventures! 🙂
I’d like to end this post with one of my favorite quotes.
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. ~ Edward Abbey ~ 🙂
This past autumn during a trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula I had the opportunity to witness one really beautiful afternoon and a stunning sunset in Marquette. The rest of my days in the UP. this time were filled with lots of rain, fog and clouds.
This was the one and only afternoon that I witnessed the sky change dramatically every few minutes! The clouds split the sky into darkness and light. The title of The Reckoning felt just right for this image!
For fun, I processed it in both color and black and white. The monochrome version has a much more dramatic feel to it, while the blue hues create a more peaceful scene. I hope you enjoy both.
“The Reckoning in Blue” Beautiful blues and silhouette on Lake Superior as sunset approaches.
As with almost all of my images they can be purchased as beautiful prints or canvas, and are available for licensing as well. For purchasing info click here
Here we are at the end of 2015, and what a year it’s been! As I’ve done for the past four years in a row, I am posting my favorite images of this past year. Not necessarily the best, but my personal faves. It was hard to narrow it down to only ten, but I finally did after a lot of going back and forth. These are not in any particular order and are of several different subjects. I hope you enjoy them! If you would like to look at my 2014 year in review you can check that out here. Best of 2014
Jim Goldstein in his Blog Project has hosted the year in review or top 10 images on his blog for a number of years, and I always look forward to it! There are photographers from all around the world with amazing images! I hope you’ll check out his blog and take a look at the wonderful array of photographers and gather inspiration from their images! His post should be up in the early part of January 2016!
“Kayaking at Miners Falls” Gorgeous blue waters of Lake Superior at Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore in summer!
“Great Lakes Autumn Waves” A beautiful and windy day on Lake Superior near Munising in autumn!
“One Very Fine Day” This was a fabulous day in Marquette Michigan on Presque Isle Park!
“Life is But a Dream” This was one special sunset on Lake Michigan! The waters were like glass, and the whole world seemed alive with the colors of sunset. There were several people kayaking and canoeing on the smooth water! Dreamy!
“My Sweet Lady” This year was a great year for peonies! I particularly loved this huge specimen!!
“Grape Hyacinth”2 One of many beautiful Grape Hyacinth this spring!
“Beautiful Cedar Falls” I had the opportunity to go to Hocking Hills in Hocking County Ohio this summer. The many waterfalls in the location and the amazing rock formations were wonderful! The summer was a dry one, so the water flow wasn’t as strong as I would have liked, but it was beautiful to me anyway!
“Afternoon in Shades of Gray” This scene in late fall with a beautiful snow just begged for black and white processing!
“Sweet Potato Mash” I had a year with a lot of motion blur abstracts, and this is one of my favorites!
“Song of Light” A bokeh delight in the fresh summer grass! One of my favorite bokeh-licious abstracts this year!
As we end this year and head into 2016, I’d like to wish everyone and their families all the best in the New Year. I wish you all good health, good times, plenty of adventures and family to enjoy it with!
I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes:
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. ~ Edward Abbey ~
I always enjoy a beautiful sunrise or sunset, especially over a body of water. The clouds and colorful hues are reflected on the surface making it absolutely glorious! Scroll down to see two sunset and one sunrise image from this summer on two of the Great Lakes.
I’ve also included several quotes on the topic of sunrise and sunset. Enjoy!
“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”
~ Rabindranath Tagore ~
“When the sun has set, no candle can replace it.”
~ George R.R. Martin ~
“Spectacular Sunset” An amazing sunset on glassy waters of Lake Michigan!
“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.”
~ Jo Walton ~
“Sunrise paints the sky with pinks and the sunset with peaches. Cool to warm. So is the progression from childhood to old age.”
~ Vera Nazarian ~
“Dawn’s First Light” A Soothing and peaceful sunrise on Lake Huron!
“The blue of daylight
fades and chills as the sun sinks
beneath clouds of fire.”
~ Richelle E. Goodrich ~
“The sunset was a splendid display. I wondered if it was showing off for my benefit or if it was often that spectacular. Rarely had I seen such a gorgeous scene; the riotous colors flamed out over the sky in shades that I had no words to describe. Birds sang their last songs of the day before tucking in for the night, and still the darkness hung back. Now, I thought, I understand the word “twilight.” It was created for just this time – in this land.”
~ Janette Oke ~
“Magnificent Sunset” Another gorgeous sunset from Lake Michigan in the Upper Peninsula!
“But even the longest day wears to sunset.”
~ Marion Zimmer Bradley ~
Last month on a fall color trip I got to enjoy a beautiful sunrise and sunset on two of the Great Lakes.
What a soothing and peaceful sunrise I had this day on Lake Huron! The only sounds to be heard were of gulls, ducks, and geese as they appeared on the scene as daylight broke! This was the beginning.
“Peace at Sunrise”
After a day of hunting for scenic places with fall color I went out along Lake Michigan for a sunset. It was what I call a nearly endless sunset. It didn’t get going with much color at first, but when it did, it didn’t want to stop! I stayed photographing the color until I knew I really had to leave. Even after I left the scene I had a hard time keeping my eye off of the side and rear view mirror as the color kept changing!
Red Sky at Night.
You know what they say about Red Sky at Night? A sailors delight! I have to say that it was for sure, the night was clear and the waters smooth. The next day also brought beautiful clear weather. I guess the mariners of old knew their skies! 🙂
