Pure Michigan

“Tulip Festival”

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I was fortunate to be able to attend The 2017 Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan this spring. I have been one other time but that particular year the tulips hadn’t even begun to bloom.

I was rewarded with beautiful tulips and daffodils this year at the festival, among many other types of flowers.

The lovely purple tulips above were some of the last I was able to see that day as the sun got lower in the sky.

The images below give you some idea of the abundance of tulips and wonderful color there at the Tulip Festival!

“Daffodil Tripartite In Sunlight”
Just lovely little daffodils set against brightly colored tulips at The 2017 Tulip Festival in Holland, MI.

 

“Tulips in Rows”
Beautiful rows of tulips with trees and flags in the background at The Tulip Festival.

 

“Tulip Festival Holland”
Enjoying all of the many varieties of tulips at The 2017 Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan!

“Changes of Time”

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As some of you may know, being in Michigan, surrounded by some of the Great Lakes, has its perks! Here in this state you are never far from a local lake, and not very far from three of the three Great Lakes either.

I had wanted to get out to Lake Michigan all winter, but with the roads as snowy and icy as they were most of the time, it was impossible.

Recently I had the chance to spend a few days out around Grand Haven, and Holland. I was really surprised at the amount of shoreline change, and drifting of sand that happened over the winter season.

As I mentioned in my last post, the weather most of the time was either raining or stormy.

These few frames here were taken in a brief time in between storms. The sun shone brightly against the sand drifts that nearly covered all of the snow fences.

Pools of water lay on the shore reflecting the wonderful blue sky and clouds in another location.

Lastly, you’ll see more cloud reflections in pools as well as patterns in the sand formed by the water!

Truly it was a beautiful period of time with all of that sky drama. The changes quickly led to another thunderstorm, but it was certainly worth the time there to enjoy these sights granted to me!

I hope you enjoy it also!

"Sand Banks and Sky"
“Sand Banks and Sky”
"Reflections in Directions"
“Reflections in Directions”
"Patterns of Reflection"
“Patterns of Reflection”

“Wawatam Lighthouse St. Ignace”

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Ok…..Yep…..I’m still going back through images from late last summer. In fact I’m still processing images from last spring, but that’s another story altogether! Backlogged….procrastination…. 😉

This image today is from St. Ignace Michigan in the beautiful Upper Peninsula.

This lighthouse which is called the Wawatam Lighthouse in St. Ignace, sits on Moran Bay on Lake Huron in the Straits of Mackinac.

The original location for this lighthouse was near Monroe Michigan, but had to be moved because of construction. It now sits on old railroad and ferry docks.

To me it looks beautiful against the blue sky and water. A perfect new home for this lovely lighthouse!

Located near it is a quiet beach and park. You can hear the waves lapping against the shore, the gulls making noise overhead, and feel the breeze coming in off Lake Huron.

Quite a lovely and peaceful place to just sit and relax! 🙂

Wawatam Lighthouse in St. Ignace, Michigan.
Wawatam Lighthouse in St. Ignace, Michigan.

“Storms in Mono, Lake Michigan”

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“Charlevoix Lighthouse Storm” monochrome

Charlevoix Lighthouse Storm in monochrome
Charlevoix Lighthouse Storm in monochrome

“Wave Action” monochrome

-Wave Action- 2 mono

There’s something about storms that lend themselves well to monochrome conversion. These two images felt that way to me. Both were taken on Lake Michigan in Charlevoix.

You can feel the darkness of the sky, the mood, atmosphere, and the turbulence in the waters!

I posted one of these images on 500px if you’d like to see it there.

If you’re interested in purchasing either of these as prints of canvas, feel free to check out the website links to the side.

Enjoy some deep, dark, moodiness! 😉

“Magical Autumn Mystery”

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As you can see I am a little behind in my processing. In my last post you could see the last remnants of fall leaves on the ground with a little snow.

In contrast to that, this frame was taken in early October in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The areas closer to the coast still had abundant color, like in this image here, while the inland areas looked more like winter had already come.

I love this particular area. It is located not too far from Lake Superior, but in a slightly higher elevation. This back country dirt road goes on for about twenty miles. It’s very narrow, and can barely allow two cars to pass. The good thing is almost no one is around, so I had complete freedom to hike, walk, explore, and of course take photos!!

I spent quite a bit of time hiking around in the woods. Enjoying each step, as I walked on moist fallen leaves, drinking up all the golden color with my eyes, and listening to the sound of silence whenever I paused for a minute or so. To me it’s like being in a magical place. A place full of wonder and vibrant color everywhere I turned.

I hope you too can feel the exhilaration and excitement of this fall magic, just as I do!!

“Magical Autumn Mystery”

-Magical Autumn Mystery-

“Autumn Melange”

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Sometimes just a section of an area is enough to give you the full feeling of what you’re after. This is a tiny slice of a small mountain filled with a melange of fall colors mixed in with evergreen trees.

After driving down a dirt road off of this mountain, I looked back and saw this lovely assortment of trees and colors of every kind. Of course I had to stop and get in a few shots!! 🙂

I’d guess you’d call this a salad of color!!

Enjoy

Autumn color and textures in a hillside.
Color upon color.

“Long Sunset”

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Hi everyone, it’s been a busy past few weeks for me, so now that I have a breather, I thought I’d sit down a write a post. Today I was processing some images. I decided just for fun, to take one unedited image and process it 3 different ways just to change it up a slight bit.

The first photo is the unedited version. This was a quick grab for me. I was trying to find a spot a along Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, that had a view to the west. When I finally found it, the sun was just about to set completely. I jumped out of the car and ran towards the water. I only got in a few shots before the sun was gone!

The colors did continue to become more and more beautiful though, as they went through their changes moving into the night!

That of course is not what this post is about. It’s about one image and a little bit of play.

You’ll notice the colors here are nice, but not very bright. The foreground is pretty dark, and there were some small rocks in the shallow parts of the water.

Unedited version of “Long Sunset”

-Long Sunset- un-edited

In this next image I decided to go with a bit of a more purple cast. I used a combination of Lightroom , and Nik Color Efex Pro to make these changes in this and in the other two images. The changes were very simple, so I won’t go into detail. This post is more about the images themselves and not how they got that way.

-Long Sunset-

Here, you’ll notice more of a warm cast, I’d call peach. I also removed the small rocks in the foreground.

-Long Sunset- 2

Finally in this last image I went a bit wild, and brought out a lot of warmth and a bright yellow cast. I also removed some of the noise in this one, even though I had already taken some out by the original processing in Nik. In my opinion this one, instead of being a sunset, it seemed to take on the appearance of a sunrise by lightening up the foreground more, and the intense hues I gave it. See if it makes you feel that way too.

-Long Sunset- 3

Obviously this isn’t a “How to”, but I thought it might be fun to just take a simple sunset, and see where you could go with it, without going totally out of the realm of reality.

Of course for the person that doesn’t believe in any processing at all, this is already way over the top! 😉

I hope you enjoyed this post, and enjoyed the slight difference in each image. Have a great weekend everyone!! 🙂

“Autumn on Campus”

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There’s something so inviting and beautiful when you think about school, or college campuses during autumn’s colorful foliage season!
This image is no exception. It was taken a couple of months ago at the very end of peak color. The combination of the trees and their foliage, the pathways, lamp posts, and buildings seemed to all just flow together into one lovely autumn image! Enjoy! 🙂

Amazing autumn color on a university campus!
Amazing autumn color on a university campus!

“Winds on Waters Deep”

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In my autumn travels in the often hurried and mad search for color I came upon this area of a large lake. I had to stop the car quite a ways off and walk down a country road to be able to get in a few shots.
The whole area is miles and miles of lake, some quite wide and deep, other areas becoming more narrow like a river mouth.
I loved this section here because of the beautiful tall grasses that line the shoreline, and the starting of autumnal color. It happened to be quite a windy day which isn’t my favorite photography weather, but it did lend itself nicely to the movement of the grasses!
I hope to be able to locate this place again in the wintertime. I imagine the lake will be beautiful frozen over with ice, and the trees laden with snow!

Lovely autumn lakeside scene!

“When Fall Was Young”

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The beauty of early autumn along the shores of lake Michigan.
The beauty of autumn when it first begins! This tree stands short, and strong in the heavy winds along Lake Michigan. Fall color has just begun in that area at the time, but if you love trees you’ll find the beauty in them no matter what time of year! Call me a Tree Lover! 😉