Week 7 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Tags

Beulah, brad reed, Cathead Point, Cherry Basket Farm, coyotes, Fishtown, Grand Traverse Bay, Grand Traverse Lighthouse, Lake Michigan, Leelanau County, Leelanau Peninsula, photography, Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Suttons Bay, todd reed

• Devote every Tuesday in 2012 to making quality photographs
• Take our fans along with us through experiential videos and photographs
• Tell the story of how we capture our photographs through detailed writings
• Photograph any subject, anywhere in the world

Brad’s Week 7 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

"Fishtown" is Brad's selected image for Week 7 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. Click to purchase "Fishtown"

“Fishtown” by Brad Reed
Leland is one of the most historic and well-preserved fishing towns on the Great Lakes.  I love going there with my camera and stepping back in time.  Today was the first time I had photographed Leeland in the snow.  The snow really helped define the rooflines and textures of the old wooden buildings.
F22 at .3, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens at 26mm

My dad and I are having so much fun on our “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” photo shoots.  This week was the best yet.  With a better chance of photographing snow in Northern Michigan than in the Ludington area, we hit the road and headed up North towards the Traverse City area.  Sure enough, Leelanau County had way more fresh snow and winter weather and that was what we were looking for.

"Beulah Beauty" - Click to purchase

After first stopping in Beulah and then at a fruit farm in Omena, we drove to the tip of Leelanau Peninsula and photographed the Grand Traverse Lighthouse.  It was beautiful watching the snow falling on the red roof of the pristine Michigan lighthouse and surrounding trees.  I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the icy shoreline and even dared to stand in the shallow icy waters of Lake Michigan to make a few of my best images of the day.

"Grand Traverse Light on Ice" - Click to purchase

With big grins and a sense of fullfilment, my dad and I got back in my truck and headed for a late lunch at Boone’s in Suttons Bay.  We filled up on their famous Lake Michigan perch and then headed west and made our way towards Leland.  Leland is one of Michigan’s most historic and picturesque towns and is a photographer’s dream.  Within two minutes of getting out of the truck, my dad and I were making strong images of the nearly deserted tourist town.  Leland’s most unique attrtibute is “Fishtown”.  Fishtown looks and feels much the same way it did 100 years ago.  A small channel that runs through the heart of town and dumps into Lake Michigan is the lifeblood of the tiny town.  Both sides of the channel are lined with old, crooked wooden buildings.  Some of the rustic buildings look as if the next strong Lake Michigan storm my blow them right over.  A few of the buildings are homes, but most are now tiny tourist shops and a few authentic fresh fish markets.  My personal favorite is Carlson’s Fisheries. To this day, you can still walk into Carlson’s and buy an assortment of different fresh Lake Michigan fish.

"Sign of Old Times" - Click to purchase

Leland has two famous fishing boats that are still operational, the Janice Sue and the Joy.  Leland is also the home port of the ferry Mishe-Mokwa, which takes visitors out onto Lake Michigan for tours of North and South Manitou Islands and to get a world class view of the Sleeping Bear Dunes.  If you have not been to Leland, I highly recommend a weekend journey there, especially in the summer.  I don’t think you will be disappointed.  Leland is also just a short drive away from Sleeping Bear Dunes, which was recently voted the most beautiful place in America.  Leland, Glen Arbor and Sleeping Bear Dunes, much like Ludington, are Michigan at its best!

"Michigan History" - Click to purchase

The highlight for me of Week 7, however,  was on the way home to Ludington.  We were only about ten minutes south of Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive and Sleeping Bear Dunes, when my dad and I spotted a large herd of deer out in an open farm field.  As I was driving my dad and I spotted a coyote running out towards the deer.  I pulled off the road and quickly grabbed my 600mm lens and my tripod.  Unfortunately, by the time I got all set up to shoot video and still photographs, the coyote had run past the deer and off into the woods.  Photographing a coyote has been toward the top of my bucket list since 2007 when we were photographing the book on Ludington State Park.  I have seen many Michigan coyotes, but never when I have had the big lens and camera handy.  Was today going to be the big day?

After the coyote had run off, I immediately pulled out my iPhone and started playing a video with coyote calls on it.  Within two minutes, the video had gotten the attention of the coyote and he came stealthing back towards the deer.  I was able to get the large coyote on video and even made a few still photographs.  I would have liked to have been 300 yards closer, but even from a quarter mile away, I was able to see the coyote with my telephoto lens.  Eventually the coyote had a face-off with a dominant doe and I caught the entire interaction on video.  It was exhilerating and a highpoint in my photographic career.  The video and photographs would have been much better if I could have gotten closer, but the experience was world class.  I can’t wait until next Tuesday!

"Wily Coyote" - Click to purchase

"Face-off" - Click to purchase

Todd’s Week 7 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Plan A–taking aerial photographs today of the snowy Michigan landscape– is out. Clouds greyer than a battle ship and just as foreboding preclude that idea. Forget any sunrise shots too. The weatherman predicts we won’t see the sun any time today.

"Timeless Taste" is Todd's selected image for Week 7 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. Click to purchase "Timeless Taste"

“Timeless Taste” by Todd Reed
The architecture of this barn was simply exquisite when it was built more than a century ago just north of the Village of Omena near Northport, Michigan. Now the barn serves as the centerpiece of Cherry Basket Farm, which hosts weddings, private parties and other events. As an outdoor photographer and lover of classic Michigan barns, I am grateful that the creative use of the barn and other structures on the site enables the owner-Epicure Catering, LLC-to maintain the farm in such pristine condition.
F5.6 at 1/200, ISO 100, 80-200mm lens at 80mm

Plan B: In my Coast Guard rescue boat driving days I was trained to always have Plan B determined even before attempting Plan A. For Brad and I today, Plan B calls for heading north to photograph lighthouses, Grand Traverse Bay and the Leelanau Peninsula. Three hours later we have just rolled through the charming little village of Omena when I spot one of the most impressive white barns I have ever seen. Stopping along the roadside, we now have time to observe how perfectly designed and maintained the barn and surrounding outbuildings are and how exquisitely they fit into the landscape and trees surrounding them. In making my picture I know I don’t want to shoot a tight shot of just the barn because what is really exciting me is how the barn and the natural elements around it compliment each other.  The snow on the ground and barn roof simplifies the picture and the Christmas wreath is a perfectly placed added ingredient. Identifying exactly what excites me about a subject enables me to make images emphasizing that. I set to work and within five minutes have made exactly the picture my heart had in mind.

Next stop: Cathead Point at the northern tip of the Leelanau Peninsula. Historic Grand Traverse Light looks lonely today, blanketed in snow with nary a visitor or passing ship in sight.  One of the beauties of winter photography at popular spots like lighthouses is that you don’t usually have to work to keep people out of your viewfinders if you don’t want them there. Of course if you want people in your pictures you might want to bring them to the lighthouse with you in the winter.

"Still Squared Away" - Click to purchase

As a longtime Coast Guardsman, what strikes me immediately upon seeing Grand Traverse Lighthouse is that it looks ready for any of the most rigorous Coast Guard inspections it underwent for more than a century. The Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum must be proud of their accomplishments over the past quarter century in maintaining and improving the 154-year-old lighthouse and grounds. Brad and I spend more than two hours taking pictures of the lighthouse and of the icy Lake Michigan shoreline in front of it. We are in our element. Brad as usual is often in Lake Michigan making pictures.

"Reel View" - Click to purchase

Final port of call: After lunch in picturesque Sutton’s Bay we journey to Leland and once again find we have the entire place pretty much to ourselves. One reason we picked Tuesdays for our daylong weekly shoots was so that places would be quieter. The ghost town look of Fishtown on this grey winter day makes it look like it was frozen in time a hundred years ago. Brad and I split up, as we so often do, to explore in our own way at our own pace. I try for probably an hour to make a picture featuring a couple old fish net reels mounted along the Fishtown channel. I know when a picture is really working and despite trying a variety of perspectives and distances, I never find that sweet vantage point where every element of the picture comes together. I finally at least make an image I think is good that features the reel. Time to move on to shooting fish tugs and parts of fish tugs utilizing our twice-as-close and immediacy concepts.

"Passing By" - Click to purchase

I like a couple of the fish tug shots but soon feel it is time to look for some still-life shots of some of the details of Fishtown buildings. My best Leland shot of the day turns out to be a still life of a flagpole buoy once used to mark the location of a commercial fishing net. The old wooden siding it rests against provides a clean, simple background with dynamic angles. Some red Michigan berries provide the perfect added touch.

"Marking Time" - Click to purchase

Week 6 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Tags

brad reed, Crystal Mountain, eagle, Lake Michigan, Ludington, Ludington State Park, michigan, nikon, photography, sand dune, skiing, swan, todd reed, trumpeter swans, woodpecker

• Devote every Tuesday in 2012 to making quality photographs
• Take our fans along with us through experiential videos and photographs
• Tell the story of how we capture our photographs through detailed writings
• Photograph any subject, anywhere in the world

Click to view the video from Week 6 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Todd’s Week 6 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

By dawn’s early light Brad and I are attempting to scale a huge sand dune in the Hobby Crest area of Ludington State Park in hopes a colorful sunrise awaits us. We climb and climb and climb, and finally make our way to the top and take position on two peaks about 500 yards apart. The sunrise never shows up but we definitely get our morning workout and scout out some strong dunescape compositions, most of them in need of better light.

"Dune Forest"- Click to purchase

Next stop: The Sable River, Ludington State Park. After a fleeting look at a mature eagle flying the Lake Michigan shoreline, I am fortunate enough to have an immature bald eagle fly right over my head as I hike the dunes on the inland side of M-116 en route to try to stalk a pair of rare trumpeter swans that has been spotted on the Sable River occasionally since Hamlin Lake froze over. The young eagle, probably less than two years old, is either checking me out or some nearby small wildlife I cannot see. The sun has broken through the clouds, lighting up its impressive wings.

"Golden Glider" is Todd's selected image for Week 6 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed.- Click to purchase

Golden Glider by Todd Reed
An immature bald eagle soars directly overhead as I hike a trail through the dunes near the Sable River at Ludington State Park. The bird circles over me, seemingly checking me out, or is he just searching for breakfast? Either way, I am grateful for the close-up view.
F5.6 at 1/2000, ISO 360, 500 mm lens at 500 mm

Ten minutes later my hunch about where the elusive trumpeter swans might be proves correct. With my 500mm lens I find myself as close as I need or want to be to photograph the birds on the river without disrupting their normal behavior.

"2 Swans a Swimming" - Click to purchase

I make several images of the swimming birds before they decide to rest on a sandbar in the middle of the river. Now it is a waiting game. I watch for more than an hour as they alternate between preening and resting. I make an occasional image while waiting. Then it happens: one of the birds rises up and flaps its wings. Presto.

"Big Bird" - Click to purchase

The Sable River is a wildlife paradise, especially in winter when inland lakes tend to be frozen over and there are not so many humans present to scare the animals away. I am rewarded for my patience with the sight of a deer coming to the river’s edge for a drink. I make one shot with the deer framed through some trees and grasses then slowly move to make a tighter, simpler image. I like both views. Over time I manage to sneak closer and make some “twice-as-close” shots of a curious fawn with its mother out of focus in the background. The three deer images illustrate how shooting from different distances with the same lens can give you extremely different results. I think all three images work in their own way.

"Peep Sight" - Click to purchase

"Pause that Refreshes" - Click to purchase

"Almost on its Own" - Click to purchase

Last stop: Crystal Mountain

I am a winter enthusiast, a trait passed from my parents to me and then on to my children.  Nothing makes my day in the winter better than skiing, especially downhill skiing.  No other outdoor winter activity can for me match skiing’s combination of outdoor adventure, beauty, exercise, speed and sense of freedom. For more than 50 years I have skied at Crystal Mountain near Thompsonville, Michigan, and this afternoon my son Brad and I are combining a ski outing and some photography with our Nikon D7000s and GoPro camera, both of which shoot high definition video.

"Crystal Blue Run" - Click to purchase

It is a glorious afternoon with sunshine and blue skies like I have experienced more in Colorado than Michigan. Crystal Mountain has just installed a new four-person chairlift on our favorite run Loki. The best part of the new lift for me is that its design has left more of the big hill to ski. I set up partway down the hill with the D7000 to get some still and video shots of Brad making his first run ever down the reconfigured run. I manage to get one good still shot on Brad’s first run but have to send him back up the hill three times to get some strong video footage, not because of his skiing but because I am still getting the hang of video photography, especially action video photography.

We move on to other hills to takes turns attaching the GoPro Camera to our chests to shoot some video while skiing. We have a blast skiing, learning how to use the camera and being willing to do a lot of retakes to get some skiing footage. We can’t wait to come back to the slopes to make first tracks in powder snow after an overnight snowfall. Then we can really show the beautiful side of skiing.

"Action Sport Photographer" - Click to purchase

Brad’s Week 6 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

"Blues Brother" is Brad's selected image for Week 6 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. - Click to purchase

Blues Brother by Brad Reed
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 several blue jays in the yard.  I have fond memories of sitting on our porch when I was little and watching the blue jays harassing all the other birds in the yard.
F4 at 1/250, ISO 3200, 600mm lens at 600mm

Have you ever heard of an albino squirrel?  I hadn’t until last week when my grandpa and grandma, Bill and Bev Marble called and told me they had photographed a totally white albino squirrel below the bird feeder at their home in Hamlin Township.  The squirrel even had red eyes.  After hearing about this rare creature I knew that part of my adventures for Week 6 of “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” would consist of picture hunting for the albino squirrel.

After trying to photograph the sunrise over Hamlin Lake at the Ludington State Park, I headed to my grandpa and grandma’s house.  I used my dad’s slick little portable chair blind and positioned myself behind my grandma’s car.  This gave me a clear field of view of the bird feeder in their back yard.  I was less than 15 yards away.  With my 600mm F4 lens attached to my cropped censored Nikon D7000, I knew that if the albino squirrel showed up, that I would be able to fill the frame with his furry white face.

I was totally in position and squirrel hunting with my camera by 9am.  In short order several small songbirds appeared and even a few grey squirrels.  After about fifteen minutes a red-bellied woodpecker and a gorgeous blue jay stopped in for a mid morning snack and I was able to make some nice photographs of each of them.

"A Morning Snack" - Click to purchase

Even though the albino squirrel had not shown up yet, everything was going well the first half an hour.  That was all about to change.  I heard an unidentifiable noise behind my blind and very soft footsteps.  Not being able to see through the backside of my blind, I had to wait and see what was making all the fuss.  The birds on the feeder and every grey squirrel in sight quickly scattered.  Could it be the albino squirrel?  If so, was he strange enough that all the other squirrels and birds were afraid of him?  My heart was pounding out of my chest and I was starting to sweat.  My camera was set and my finger was on the shutter.  The money shot was getting close, I could feel it.

What?!?!  You have to be kidding me.  The noisy invader was not the albino squirrel.  It was one of the many wild barn cats that roam around my grandparents’ farm.  The cat even had the nerve to plop his fat belly down right in front of me and gave me one of those smug looks that only a cat can give.  This cat had to go!

"Fat Cat" - Click to purchase

I tried for five minutes to scare the cat away.  Waving my hands like a fool didn’t work.  Throwing little pieces of snow in his direction didn’t work either.  Now it was a game.  I knew if this fat cat didn’t leave soon, I would never see the albino squirrel.  What to do?  Like so many of the “Tuesdays” so far, I used my secret weapon; my iPhone.  I quickly downloaded a YouTube video of a Saint Bernard barking very ferociously and turned the volume up on my phone.  Within five seconds of the start of that video, the cat was gone.  I have never seen a cat run as fast as he did.  I wish I had video of that entire human-cat interaction.  It was priceless.

"Stuck Like Glue" - Click to purchase

About ten minutes after the cat had run off, birds and grey squirrels returned to the feeders in front of me.  I patiently waited another hour for a glimpse of the albino squirrel, but he never did show up.  I would have waited longer, but my dad and I had to continue our “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” adventures up north at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort.  Hopefully that dreaded cat won’t eat the albino squirrel and I will be able to photograph him on a future “Tuesday”.

"Riding High" - Click to purchase

Week 5 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Tags

photography, Ludington, nikon, todd reed, brad reed, ludington michigan, Lake Michigan, sand dune, lighthouse, sunset, beautiful reflections, sunrise, Pere Marquette Lake, Epworth, seagull

• Devote every Tuesday in 2012 to making quality photographs
• Take our fans along with us through experiential videos and photographs
• Tell the story of how we capture our photographs through detailed writings
• Photograph any subject, anywhere in the world

Brad’s Week 5 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

"America's Pride" - Click to purchase

The sound of ice moving and grinding along the Lake Michigan shoreline is something I look forward to experiencing all year long.  Unfortunately, the winter this year has been so warm and mild that we have had very little snowfall or ice buildup anywhere in the Ludington area.  I also love photographing the abstract details that ice can create, and trying to capture the light dancing across the rugged surface is a challenge that I never seem to tire of.  For Week 5 of “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” I decided it was time to go on a mission and find some ice to photograph.

Around 7:45 AM this morning I headed down to Stearns Park in Ludington.  I put on all of my waterproof clothing, strapped my ice grippers to my boots, and dug my life jacket out of the back of my truck.  I could see from the parking lot that the Ludington North Breakwater was covered in a very thin coating of ice.  With the temperatures predicted to be in the upper 40s by mid afternoon, I was certain that the early morning light was going to be my only chance of photographing the ice.

With only my camera body and flash, my favorite 18-50mm F2.8 macro lens, and my tripod, I started on my adventure.  The pink sunrise in the east was casting a beautiful pink glow on the small amount of ice near shore as well as on the rocks and breakwall itself.  For my first photograph, I used my external flash to light up the dune grass in the foreground.  The flash also helped freeze the motion of the slowly blowing grass.

"Soft Morning Light" - Click to purchase

I made a few more compositions that I liked as I moved closer to the breakwater.  Recently I have found that I am shooting the vast majority of my favorite photographs on my stomach, and today was proving to be much the same.  With the pink and gold light of the sunrise reflecting on one of the giant pieces of limestone lining the breakwater, I laid on my stomach and made an abstract image of the ice and sunlight.

"Blue and Gold" - Click to purchase

I also wanted to show the concept of immediacy so I laid on my stomach below the limestone rocks right on the ice at the waters edge.  By getting down so low, I was able to help show the drama and energy that I was feeling while making the photograph.  I got wet, but I really wasn’t in any danger and my camera has survived much worse.

"Feeling the Rush" - Click to purchase

Now it was time to venture out the pier.  From my local knowledge and experience, whenever the breakwater is wet or icy you can often get the Ludington North Pier Lighthouse reflected in the breakwater.  I walked the first few hundred yards with very little effort.  My ice grippers were working beautifully.  As I got closer and closer to the Lighthouse, the ice was getting thicker, harder, and more slippery.  Not wanting to be another drowning victim in Ludington, I used my risk assessment and decided that as long as I crawled on my hands and knees on the lower part of the breakwater, I couldn’t fall into Lake Michigan because the giant limestone rocks would stop me before I fell in.  My heavy-duty nylon life jacket worked out great because eventually it got slippery enough that I could actually slide on my stomach like an otter pretty easily while using my feet and tripod to propel me closer and closer to the lighthouse.  Finally I was in position.  Just as I had suspected, from my low vantage point of being on my stomach, the Ludington North Breakwater Light was perfectly reflected in the ice on the breakwater.  Now all I had to do was wait for a slashing wave.  The waves were pretty tiny all morning and that was the only reason I could safely make it out the breakwater. After a chilly five-minute wait, one small wave hit the limestone rocks in front of me at just the right angle to create a pretty good splash.  Bingo.  I had captured what I had envisioned earlier in the morning.  The splash drenched the whole side of my body, but my clothes kept me fairly dry.  The skin on my face, however, took the blunt of the wave, and it was not dry or warm, but it was so worth it.

"Mirror Mirror on the Wall" is Brad's selected image for Week 5 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. Click to purchase "Mirror Mirror on the Wall"

“Mirror Mirror on the Wall” by Brad Reed
Wearing my life jacket and ice grippers on my boots, I slowly walked and crawled my way out to the Ludington North Breakwater Light this morning to photograph.  My local knowledge and experience had taught me that if I got close enough to the lighthouse, I would probably see a reflection of it on the ice.  As usual, the reflection was there.  Now all I had to do was wait for the big splash.  As you can imagine, I got very wet and cold.
F10 at 1/160, ISO 400, 18-50mm lens at 26mm

Click to view Brad's video from Week 5 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

 

Todd’s Week 5 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Click to view Todd's video from Week 5 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

The weatherman is calling for near-record-high winter temperatures today. It might get close to 50 degrees, in January! Throw in the forecast of a cloudy day and Brad and I appear to have our work cut out for us making good winter shots on our fifth Tuesday shoot of the year. We decide this is a good day to confine our search to the Ludington area because we know so many good places to look in our own “backyard.” We may need every advantage we can get today.

"Dawn's Early Light" - Click to purchase

First stop: Surprise, surprise! Color bursts from the dawn sky over Pere Marquette Lake. I hustle to make an image of the Occidental plant framed against the sky before the sunrise washes away the color. Then it is on to the Pere Marquette Cross boat ramp to make a sunrise picture with some ice floes there. I get to the edge of the ice floes to put them right in front (immediate) to my wide-angle lens. The light and shadow shifts quickly across the ice. I spend nearly an hour trying to make strong images and shooting video.

"Icy World" - Click to purchase

Next stop: The Lake Michigan shoreline near the south end of Ludington State Park.

It is bright and, thank God, sunny now. Time to shed a coat before hiking with 40 pounds of camera gear through woods and up some steep dune slopes. There is a spot here I have always wanted to explore and this seems like a good day to do it.

I soon spot what must be the world’s largest raccoon sleeping or playing possum on a double branch high up in a white pine tree.  So many branches obstruct my view from any vantage point that it soon becomes abundantly clear this portrait cannot be made today. Perhaps another day in a different spot.

"Place to Contemplate" - Click to purchase

Climbing higher and higher, I finally reach a grassy clearing overlooking Lake Michigan. It looks anything-but like the last day of January. The dune grass is bathed in golden light and so am I. Two trees that have fallen victim to the shifting dunes lie crisscross in the clearing. I find one of them a perfect perch to rest upon and savor this splendid spot with a birds-eye view of Lake Michigan a couple hundred feet below.  I need to make a picture to remember this place by and share with others. I work hard to make a worthy image. Finally I am satisfied I have made the best image I can. On to more exploring.

"Aerial Artistry" is Todd's selected image for Week 5 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. Click to purchase "Aerial Artistry"

“Aerial Artistry” by Todd Reed
This seagull had to be in its glory, bathing in sunshine and near-50-degree temperatures as it soared along the Lake Michigan shoreline on one of the warmest January 31s in Ludington’s history. The sun was lifting my spirits too.
F7.1 at 1/2500, ISO 800, 80 – 200mm lens at 130mm

Last stop: While waiting to photograph the sunset and afterglow along the Lake Michigan shoreline, I get into some “seagull hunting” at the Ludington boat ramp where the hardy birds tend to hang out in the winter. Shooting flying birds with a camera is in my experience tougher than shooting them with a gun. You not only have to aim well, you have to have them in focus.  The birds also must be quite close because otherwise “little things are little” in the pictures you make.

"Fanned Out" - Click to purchase

I find myself a bit rusty but soon get into the swing of things and make a few good shots. The biggest challenge today is balancing the exposure for the birds with the exposure for the sky. I love in the digital era that I can review my exposures in the field and make adjustments between shots. Soon the sun is setting and I hustle to my preselected position on the boat ramp pier. An A- sunset and afterglow cap off one of the most beautiful non-wintery winter days I have ever experienced in Michigan.

"Pure Gold" - Click to purchase

"Eminence Front" - Click to purchase

Week 4 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Tags

barn, beautiful reflections, brad reed, Fremont, horse, Lake Michigan, Ludington, Ludington State Park, michigan, muskegon, nikon, old orchard, photography, sunset, todd reed, Walkerville

• Devote every Tuesday in 2012 to making quality photographs
• Take our fans along with us through experiential videos and photographs
• Tell the story of how we capture our photographs through detailed writings
• Photograph any subject, anywhere in the world

Click to view the video from Week 4 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Brad’s Week 4 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Having the flu is never fun, especially when you have to work.  Today was the fourth Tuesday of “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” so I had no choice but to get off the couch and try and make some strong images.  Luckily for me, my dad was willing to drive and put up with my less than desirable attitude.  All I had to do was concentrate on photo hunting from the passenger seat of my dad’s Suburban.

After coming up empty-handed in Grand Haven and Holland and not finding the ice and waves on the red lighthouses in both of those magnificent cities, we headed back north to Muskegon.  There we found a large manmade pond that had beautiful reflections of the sky in it.  I slowly pulled myself together and put my heavy-weather gear on.  I dug out my 300mm lens and made my first photograph of the day.  Going through the physical and mental process of making that photograph actually made me feel better.  I later named that photograph “Elixir”.  Photography is often my favorite elixir when I feel under the weather.

"Elixir" - Click to purchase

With one strong image in the bank, my dad and I decided to take country roads back home to Ludington.  We both made a few nice compositions of a lone horse near Fremont, Michigan.  The dark horse had one bright spot on his forehead and he was standing in an old orchard.  Together, my dad and I worked as a team to get the horse to stand in front of some sumac bushes.  Once the horse was in place, my dad and I each took turns micro-composing our photographs.  I moved around slowly with my camera to align the red sumac, which I thought looked like a musical score, with the horse’s body, head and ears.

Click to purchase "Bright Spot"

By mid afternoon, I was worn out and starting to feel dizzy.  I knew I wasn’t going to be able to shoot many more photos.  As we were driving on North 204^th Avenue near Walkerville, Michigan, we came upon a wonderful old abandoned farm.  Instantly, I realized I needed to pull myself together for one more photo adventure because I was clearly in the presence of a great photograph, I just had to go and find it.  Within a few short minutes, I had found the angle I was looking for.  As I was making my final photograph, I was trying to imagine all of the fun times the families that had owned this farm must of have together.  I could not help but feel a human quality radiating from the dilapidated structure and I tried to capture that feeling in my photograph.  My sister-in-law Stephanie Reed named my photograph “Old Man Winter”.  She sensed the human-like qualities as well.  I love when art transcends reality.

"Old Man Winter" is Brad's selected image for Week 4 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. Click to purchase "Old Man Winter"

 ”Old Man Winter” by Brad Reed
While making this photograph near Walkerville, Michigan, I felt that this old abandoned house had a human characteristic to it.  When trying to come up with a name for the photograph, my sister-in-law Stephanie Reed suggested “Old Man Winter” because she could “see” an old man with a long beard in the house and grasses.  As soon as she mentioned that, I knew exactly what she was talking about.
F8 at 1/100, ISO 100, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

Todd’s Week 4 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

"Soulful" is Todd's selected image for Week 4 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. Click to purchase "Soulful"

“Soulful” by Todd Reed
I feel like I can look into the heart and soul of this horse as I view it up close and personal through my camera. Brad and I discovered this gorgeous creature along county highway B-31 near Freemont during a more than 250-mile Tuesday photo excursion along West Michigan highways and byways.
F8 at 1/400, ISO 800, 80-200mm lens at 165mm

Today starts out to be far more of a photographic challenge than Brad and I expected. We are on the road heading south along the West Michigan lakeshore well before dawn. The weatherman says it is going to be a gray day no matter how you look at it. Adding to the challenge, there is no fresh snow, and what snow there is has been around for days. Winds were up the past couple days and we are hopeful but not optimistic there could be some good ice buildup on the Grand Haven pier or perhaps some ice coating on “Big Red” lighthouse at Holland. What’s left on the Grand Haven pier looks ugly and half melted. We take the back roads to Holland, not seeing anything that looks like it would make a good picture all the way to “Big Red”, which today looks as dull and ordinary as I have ever seen it. Two hours and 100 miles of driving without finding anything worth getting the cameras out of the bag; it is time for Plan B.

"Gallant" - Click to purchase

We both love the countryside and decide to meander a lot of back roads northward toward Ludington. Near Muskegon I hike a mile in a biting wind looking for an eagle or perhaps even a snowy owl with no success.  Time to resume heading north. We take Maple Island Road toward Freemont and discover we are definitely in horse country. Southwest of Fremont we spot a dark horse with red sumac behind it. Brad and I both know instantly this is the picture we have been looking for. Now if only the horse will cooperate. I start out with a zoom lens that enables me to stay six times further from the horse while still filling the viewfinder with everything I want and nothing I don’t. I like what I am seeing. I concentrate on seeing the relationship between the horse and the sumac while also trying to capture moments when the horse looks best. Over time we gain the trust of the horse. Brad is able to move right up to the horse and make images with a wide-angle lens. I keep the telephoto on but move closer and closer, filling the frame with parts of the horse, concentrating on its closest eye, which appears focused on me. The horse can tell we are not a threat and obviously likes people. Brad and I are each able to make strong images of our own design and shoot some video as well. The horse puts his nose over the fence in what appears to be an invitation to touch him. Each of us pat him on the nose before leaving. We have made a friend whose pictures we have to remember it by.

"Tattered" - Click to purchase

On the road again, we find several old farmhouses and barns that attract our eye and our camera. The most intriguing structure is an abandoned house southeast of Walkerville that barely remains standing yet, like an elderly person, somehow retains grace and dignity. Brad gets so engrossed in the potential of this house to become a good photograph that he forgets for 20 minutes how sick he feels today from having the flu. I shoot the barn then turn my attention to an adjacent barn that time and wind has caused to lean to the east so much that it looks a lot more like a parallelogram than a rectangular shape.

"Still Holding Up" - Click to purchase

I photograph another abandoned house near Crystal Valley that my mind and heart quickly tell me will look better on another day, then its time to get Brad back home to bed. I still have enough time to find a spot to shoot a sunset on a gray day. That sounds illogical but I know that even on the grayest days the sun often peaks out as it approaches the horizon. So I head for the dunes at Ludington State Park and take up position on one of the tallest dunes on the shoreline. Sure enough, 20 minutes before sunset, the sun starts finding its way though cloud openings and bathes me and the trees, sand and water in front of me with its warmth. At sunset the sun is not even in sight but I have already capped off Week 4 of “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” with the sunshine shot I anticipated having the possibility of making.

"Winter Warmth" - Click to purchase

Week 3 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Tags

Baldwin, blizzard, brad reed, fly fishing, Lake Michigan, lighthouse, Ludington, michigan, nikon, Orvis, Pere Marquette River, photography, todd reed

• Devote every Tuesday in 2012 to making quality photographs
• Take our fans along with us through experiential videos and photographs
• Tell the story of how we capture our photographs through detailed writings
• Photograph any subject, anywhere in the world

Click to view the Week 3 of Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed video

Todd’s Week 3 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

"Orvis" is Todd's selected image for Week 3 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. Click to purchase this image.

Orvis by Todd Reed
Orvis the dog watches intently as Chris “Uber” Raines fly fishes on a flies-only stretch of the Pere Marquette River near Baldwin. This is perfect day for die-hard fishermen, Labrador retrievers and photographers.
F3.5 at 1/125, ISO 400, 24-70mm lens at 31mm

Snow is falling faster than Orvis the Labrador retriever can shake it off.  Orvis watches intently as Chris “Uber” Raines fishes for winter steelhead on the Pere Marquette River on this third Thursday of “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed.” The scene before me looks like a winter version of the “The River Runs Through It.”

“This time of year we don’t guide much; it’s our time to enjoy the sport,” says Uber, a fulltime Orvis-endorsed fly fishing guide for the Pere Marquette River Lodge in nearby Baldwin. “It allows for some wonderful peace and solitude as most anglers are only thinking of fishing this time of year. There is something almost magical about standing in the river as the water sweeps past you and the snow is coming down; it is mesmerizing.”

I am mesmerized as well by the winter dream scene in front of me: man and man’s best friend on a world-class trout stream on one of the most beautiful winter mornings imaginable. Orvis and I are both focused intently on Uber as he so deftly and gracefully casts his line.  I see beauty everywhere on this flies-only, Claybanks stretch of this National Wild & Scenic River. My challenge is to shift my vantage point and lens size/angle of view as man and dog move in order to create the best composition I can at that moment in time. I move up, down, left, right, whatever the moment dictates. Sometimes I can’t move, compose, focus, expose fast enough to capture a peak moment. All the while I am struggling to keep as much snow and water off my lens as possible. The lens hood just can’t keep the lens dry today. I am totally absorbed. I am in my element. I was always the kid most delighted by snow and today I am that kid again. I don’t ever want to grow up if it means not being this excited about winter.

Click to purchase "Fisherman's Fairy Tale"

Uber feels like a kid again too. During the peak guide season he is the one providing dreams for others, watching them act like kids after landing the fish of their dreams.

“It’s kind of funny, you would think as a fulltime guide you would get to fish all the time,” Uber tells me. “But the truth be told we are generally guiding when the fishing is best and we get to fish when either the conditions or fishing is at its worst. It’s a love-hate thing, mostly love though.”  Today Uber is loving it.

Orvis is loving it too; he was made for the outdoors. His master, Frank Willetts, owner/operator of Pere Marquette River Lodge, didn’t have the heart to keep Orvis behind with him at the lodge fly shop where the phone is ringing frequently with fishermen wanting to book trips weeks and months ahead. I jump at the chance to have Orvis come along so I can get a Lab fix. Spending a couple hours with Orvis makes me miss my beloved yellow Lab Beamer, my trusty sidekick for 12 years until he passed away two years ago. Maybe Frank will let me keep him. Dream on.

Click to purchase "Winter Afternoon's Dream"

Speaking of dreams, Uber recommends Brad and I head to Kinney Creek on Wingleton Road southwest of Branch to check out the view there. Sure enough, the view downstream is a winter afternoon’s dream. We quickly set to work making images that look like snow paintings. The wind still has not come up much here and the heavy, wet snow coats everything.

How could a day that at dawn was rainy and drab turn to this in a couple of hours? Brad and I explore one more Pere Marquette River visual winter wonderland at Rainbow Rapids then head back to Ludington elated with our visual discovers and drained of energy. After a quick bowl of chili we arrive at the Lake Michigan shoreline with enough daylight left to try to photograph in windy blizzard-like conditions. We are trying to photograph beach scenes and the lighthouse but often cannot see the lighthouse due to blowing snow. Gotta love it! All in all, January 17 has proved to be another outstanding day to capture the beauty of Michigan.

Click to purchase "Ripples and Rows"

Click to purchase "Invitation to Winter"

Brad’s Week 3 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

“River Dance” is Brad’s selected image for Week 3 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. Click to purchase this image.

River Dance by Brad Reed
High above the Pere Marquetter River at the Rainbow Rapids picnic area, the heavy wet snow contrasts beautifully with the dark blue-black water to create a very painterly looking scene.  I love the lines and forms that make up this delicate, yet powerful scene.
F8 at 1/160, ISO 200, 18-50mm lens at 50mm

One of the best parts of being a landscape, nature, and wildlife photographer in Michigan is that the weather often changes drastically throughout a given day.  Week 3 of “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” is the perfect example.

My dad and I met at 7:45 AM and loaded all of his equipment into my truck.  The sun had not risen yet, but you could tell that the sunrise was going to be crummy because of the dense overcast sky and sleeting rain.  From the local weather forecast, it sounded like the farther east you got in the state, the colder and clearer the weather was.  We decided to head 30 miles east on U.S. 10 to Baldwin.

After about 20 minutes of driving on ice-covered roads, we noticed some cool fog on Emerson Lake.  We got out and quickly tried to make some images in the freezing rain, but the doom and gloom made it difficult.  Back in the truck we went and headed further east.

Click to purchase "Winter Willow"

A few minutes later, the rain stopped.  Still no sunshine, but it was a nice bright overcast morning.  On bright overcast days my dad and I are always looking for the color red because it will “pop” right out.  We quickly spotted some red bushes amongst a sea of cattails.  We pulled off the road and started making some strong compositions.

Click to purchase "Red Pop"

Satisfied with that scene, we headed through Baldwin and made our next stop at the Pere Marquette River Lodge on M-37, which is a beautiful ORVIS endorsed fly-fishing outfitter and guide service.  Neither my dad nor I had ever been in P.M. Lodge before but had always wanted to.  Within 30 seconds we struck up a great conversation with the owner Frank Willetts and told him about our “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” project.  He immediately called one of his guides and told him we needed a fiserhman for some fly-fishing photos.  Right about this time it started to snow the giant wet flakes that photographers dream about.

We spent an hour or so in the P.M. lodge sharing “war stories” of great fishing and photographic adventures with Frank.  Meanwhile, it just kept snowing harder and harder.  Our guide, Chris “Uber” Raines showed up and after a quick tour of the magnificent lodge, we headed to the Clay Banks area of the Pere Marquette River.

By this point we had 2 or 3 inches of wet, sticky snow and it was covering everything in site.  What a dramatic change from a few hours earlier.  Uber was a great model and he brought Frank’s dog Orvis along as well to add a little flare to our fly-fishing photographs.

During the hour or so of photographing Uber and Orvis we got another 3 inches of snow.  Now we were in a winter wonderland.  The wind had died down significantly and the snow was falling so hard that it was hard to keep your eyes open.

Click to purchase "Fly Rod"

Before we parted ways with Uber, he told us to check out Kinney Creek on Wingelton Road on our way back to Ludington.  We left the Clay Banks and within 10 minutes or so my dad and I were standing on the bridge overlooking Kinney Creek.  It was outstanding.  I felt like we were inside of the most beautiful snow globe imaginable.  Life was at total peace for me at that moment.  Little did I know how the day would change in a few hours.

Click to purchase "Wingelton Wonderland"

After we left Kinney Creek we stopped at another popular landing along the Pere Marquette River that my dad and I had never been to called Rainbow Rapids.  Here we discovered a massive tree filled ridge that towered over the Pere Marquette River.  Everything in sight was covered in snow except for the blue-black waters of the Pere Marquette River below us.  My dad and I each made some strong images and we were having a blast exploring this new territory.  I just kept asking myself how it was possible that I had never seen this spot before.  I knew I would be back again.

"Cold Shot"

As we drove home to Ludington, the snow was subsiding, but the wind was getting stronger and fiercer.  After a late afternoon lunch, we decided to head to the Ludington City Beach to check out the waves.  We had no idea what we were in for.

Mother Nature had decided to bless my dad and I with several of her faces today, but the 40 miles per hour wind down at the Ludington City Beach were totally unexpected after the calm stillness we had experienced just a few hours earlier.  The sand and snow were blowing so hard that my truck was rocking like a boat at sea.  My dad and I threw more heavy weather gear on and attacked the blizzard head-on with our cameras and tripods.

Click to purchase "Snow Storm"

After a bitterly cold 20-minute fight with Mother Nature, my dad and I decided to retreat back to the gallery to thaw out and dry off.  We both were grinning ear to ear when we walked into the gallery and saw Sarah and Rachel hard at work on the computers.  They both could tell my dad and I had a great adventure to share from Week 3 of “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed”.

Week 2 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Tags

brad reed, Lake Michigan, Ludington, michigan, muskegon, nikon, photography, snowy owl, sunset, todd reed

Mission: Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

• Devote every Tuesday in 2012 to making quality photographs
• Take our fans along with us through experiential videos and photographs
• Tell the story of how we capture our photographs through detailed writings
• Photograph any subject, anywhere in the world

Brad’s Week 2 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Click to view Brad's Week 2 video

It has only been in the last few years that my dad and I have ventured into wildlife photography.  Most of the wildlife photographers I have met are very patient individuals that can sit for hours on end in a small area with very little movement.  That is not my dad and I.  We are both pretty high strung and not always very patient (stop laughing Betsy, Debbie, and Sarah).  Still to this day, almost all of the worthy wildlife photographs we’ve made have been during action packed adventures where we are free to move around and interact with the wild animals.  Week Two of “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” proved to be much the same.

We met our snowy owl guide at 7:30 AM on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 in an undisclosed location in West Michigan to photograph the beautiful birds.  By 7:44 AM I had my first photo of the elusive creature in the bank and had a feeling that more were going to follow throughout the day.

Click to purchase "Through the Fog"

During the morning we moved to four different locations to photograph the same snowy owl.  The two important photographic elements I wanted to capture were great light and the owl’s eyes wide open.  We were blessed with golden light on and off most of the day so I knew if I was patient enough, I could photograph the owl in “magic” light.  The bigger problem I was facing was getting the bird to open his eyes so the sunlight could illuminate his giant yellow soul searchers.

Click to purchase "Graceful Predator"

Late in the afternoon, after making several good shots of the owl, I knew my time in front of him was getting short.  Most of the other photographers and bird watchers were to the south of the bird.  I looked at the natural surroundings and was fairly confident that I could sneak up within 25 feet of the owl without disturbing him if I was patient and moved slowly from the west.

After a 45-minute cat and mouse game, I finally filled the frame of my camera with one of the most magnificent creatures I’ve ever seen.  With my 600mm F4 lens and a 1.4 extender on my crop-sensored Nikon D7000 camera body, I had no problem seeing the incredibly intricate details of the snowy owl.  And even better yet, the light was turning gold, bringing out more detail.  All I needed now was for the bird to open his eyes wide.  I knew what I had to do.

Last week during the first day of shooting for “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed,” I had great success getting an immature bald eagle to respond to a bird calling application on my iPhone.  If it worked on the eagle, it might work on the snowy owl.

Unfortunately, the particular application I had downloaded did not have a snowy owl call on it.  I tried several songbird and raptor calls, but nothing was working.  The snowy owl would not open his eyes wide enough.  He would often stare me down, but his eyes were little slits.  Standing there with my heart racing knowing that everything was so close to being perfect it came to me that I should try bird calls of birds from the North because snowy owls spend most of their time near the Arctic.  The first one I came to on my phone was a Northern Cardinal.  As soon as that call started, the snowy owl turned his head towards me, perked up, and opened his huge beautiful eyes.  Yes!!!!  It worked.  I love technology.  Whether it was science or dumb luck, I am just glad I got the photograph I had envisioned.

Game of Patience by Brad Reed
After following this same snowy owl the entire day, I was finally able to sneak close enough to the mystical creature to capture all of the intricate details of its feathers and beautiful eyes.  The beautiful side lighting made the eyes of this snowy owl look even more dramatic and powerful.
F5.6 at 1/3200, ISO 400, 600mm lens at 850mm

"Game of Patience" is Brad's selected image for Week 2 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. Click to purchase this image.

Click to purchase "Honker"

Click to purchase "A Golden Flight"

Todd’s Week 2 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Brad and I are on the road at “O Dark Thirty” on the second Tuesday of 2012 to get to our shooting spot before dawn. Last Tuesday—the first of 52 “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad” this year –my photography partner and I went on solo treks. This is our first “Tuesday” shooting together and I am pumped to be camera hunting with my son for snowy owls.

Click to view Todd's Week 2 video

Click to purchase "Winter Moon"

A full moon setting greets us first as we wait for dawn’s early light at an undisclosed West Michigan location that a photography friend Louise Olson has been kind enough to share.  We love to shoot the edges of light so we are eager to see one of the white arctic birds emerge out of the darkness. The full moon gives us a jump on spotting a large bird on a post. Within minutes it is bright enough to verify that indeed it is a Snowy Owl.

Click to purchase "Soft Surroundings"

As we set into action, a couple other birder/photographers arrive. All of us are making certain to be ethical in keeping a non-invasive distance from the bird. We make a few shots but Brad and I both are hoping it will move to a more natural setting. The wild grasses are coated with frost so I am hoping to get a shot of the owl in the white grass. After what seems like an eternity but is actually less than 20 minutes, the owl flies to a nearby grassy high spot which happens to be right in line with where I have set up my camera and 500 millimeter F4 lens on my heavy tripod and Wimberly head.  Within seconds I drop the legs of my tripod to near ground level to create an out of focus foreground layer as a base for the picture and to present part of the white bird’s body against the darker, foggy background sky. Three quick snaps of the trigger and the shot is made. Seconds later the snowy owl flies the coop to distant parts unseen.

Click to purchase "Milkweed on Ice"

We spend most of the day searching for, finding and waiting for hours for the male snowy owl to decide of his own volition to fly again in the hopes of getting some strong flying images. We take up different vantage points all afternoon and Brad is rewarded with a respectfully close portrait and a unique flying shot. I am not so lucky and am bummed as we leave for Ludington. But never say die. The late afternoon sun is painting the landscape gold and I am hustling to get to one of my favorite Lake Michigan sunset shooting spots.

I wheel into Pere Marquette Township Park south of Ludington Park in time to see the dune grass painted gold and the sand painted pink with the magic light. The sun is just about to set. I know I have maybe 30 seconds or less to find and compose a shot. Pressure. I run toward the beach, eyes wide open. There it is: footprints leading through a gap between dune grass. Bingo. No time for the tripod. I compose; not enough impact; move closer, tilt wide-angle lens further downward. Sweet, shoot. Check histogram. Right on. In-the-bank. Pressure off.

Golden Path
Given the choice between the Yellow Brick Road and this path to the beach along Lake Michigan in Buttersville, I would choose this path. I feel like I struck gold when I spotted it after rushing to get to the shoreline before sunset. I knew from the golden light painting the countryside along the US-31 freeway south of Ludington that if I could just get to the beach in time I would have the opportunity to make an image that would look and feel far more like summer than winter. My pre-visualization was well rewarded.
F3.5 at 1/100, ISO 100, 12-24mm lens at 24mm

"Golden Path" is Todd's selected image for Week 2 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. Click to purchase this image.

Click to purchase "Winter Night's Dream"

Day 1 of Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed

Tags

brad reed, Charlevoix, eagle, Lake Michigan, lighthouse, Ludington, michigan, nikon, photography, sand dune, Silver Lake, todd reed

Todd’s Day 1 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

"Michigan Red White and Blue" is Todd's selected image for Week 1 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. Click to purchase this image.

Michigan Red White and Blue
I pre-visualized how the Charlevoix Lighthouse might look three hours and 150 miles before I got there. The fresh coat of ice on the Charlevoix pier from yesterday’s north wind and waves looks even better than I envisioned.  I am loving being right here, right now in Northern Michigan.

F22 at 1/125, ISO 400, 14-24mm lens at 17mm

2012: a new year, a new photographic mission. “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” is designed to challenge Brad and I and elevate us to new realms of photographic discovery.

I am psyched. Today is January 3^rd, the first Tuesday of the 52 Tuesdays this year that my son and I will be devoting to photographing the world around us. I couldn’t sleep last night. It was like trying to sleep the night before the opening day of deer hunting season. Based on the meteorological predictions and current weather conditions, I decide to drive north in Michigan as far as necessary to find snow, ice and maybe even some sunshine to make strong Michigan-in-winter photographs.

First stop: Eastlake east of Manistee to check out the tunnel of trees at Bullfrog Alley. It is still dark as I approach the web-like canopy of tree branches and drive beneath them. Bad news: no snow on the branches; not worth waiting for daybreak to photograph here today.

Second stop: Duck Lake Watershed, another 40 miles north on U.S. 31. This is a spot just beyond Interlochen where I have appreciated looking at the estuary there for many years but have never stopped because conditions were never right. This morning it looks gorgeous. A heavy overnight snowfall has blanketed much of the marsh grass along with surrounding pine and cedar trees. Time to make my first serious image ever with my new Nikon D7000. Someone once said it takes a professional photographer a year to get totally intuitive with a different camera and boy is this one different from the Fuji S5 I have been using for several years. My heart says use the old reliable Fuji; besides it has become my friend and trusty companion through many a storm, and two major shooting projects—our 2010 “365” picture-a-day project and our year-long Ludington State Park vision quest and book project. But now it is time for S5 to take a backup position to D7000, which features vastly more modern features, most importantly 1080 video and lower noise at higher ISOs. Video: now that is a scary thought, but video is one of the essential mission components of “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed”.  And let’s face it: the world wants more live-action, reality video, plus we plan to use the video as a photography-teaching tool. Right now I just want to get one good still shot in the bank to lower my anxiety level over using a brand new camera and my desire to make at least one shot today that measures up to my expectations. Concentrating on composition, my comfort level goes up. My first instinct of where to shoot from is nearly right-on and within a few minutes I have micro-composed an image that incorporates several of the 20/20 Vision composition concepts we teach: the marsh grass in the foreground forms a triangle at the base of the picture and provides a strong foreground to the image. The stream flows through the composition in an S-curve shape and is a strong element tying the foreground and middle ground to the background. Snow is falling lightly. Watch out for those power lines wanting to sneak into the top of the picture. Finally, just right I think. No, cattails slightly moving; I must bump the ISO up from 100 to 400 in order to gain two stops of shutter speed. Perfect. Click. Done. Pack up and move on.

Click to purchase "Wintery Watershed"

Wintery Watershed
The Duck Lake Watershed along U.S. 31 near Interlochen has long been in my mental diary of views that could make a good picture on the right day. Today, with a fresh blanket of snow and light snow falling, it finally looks picture perfect.

F9 at 1/60, ISO 400, 14-24mm lens at 24mm

Third stop: Charlevoix, 70 miles northward. An iPhone check of my National Weather Service application tells me it is cold and sunny there and not snowing. With the strong north wind we had yesterday, I visualize a bold image of newly formed ice clinging to the red lighthouse and the railings that surround it. I love that the Charlevoix Lighthouse has been changed from white to red—the perfect compliment and contrast to ice and snow. Upon arrival, one glance is all I need to know my pre-visualization was even more on target then I imagined. Good pictures are easy to come by. But I am in search of an outstanding image so as I start to work the scene I am trying my hardest to see everything and how parts of what I behold can be pieced together to make the strongest image. Following our Twice-As-Close Rule, I keep on working myself into the scene until I am literally so close to some icy railings that I cannot possibly keep all three legs of my tripod on the pier to make the image. Closer to the icicles just keeps looking better. Immediacy is perhaps my favorite concept and finally I am so close the icicles that I am almost touching one. Now to micro-compose. An inch of position change makes the picture look and feel so much more powerful and simple. Now to maximize my depth of field I choose a small aperture and painstakingly complete what I am certain will be my best picture of the day. I am ecstatic. Now I have some fun laughing at myself trying to shoot my first video segment for Tuesday.

Last stop: Frankfort to check the sunset. The clouds have lots of layers. If there is enough clear sky near the horizon for the setting sun to bounce light off those clouds, there might be some great rim lighting of cloud edges. It looks doubtful but what a sick feeling it is when you don’t try and you miss a spectacular Lake Michigan sunset. As Mother Nature would have it, I am in place on the shoreline waiting but the sun barely peaks out at the horizon and the clouds never get their chance to shine. Oh well, the Charlevoix Lighthouse had already given me more than I could ask for on my first Tuesday. Frankfort’s day will come.

Day 1 – Todd’s Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed video

Click to play the video

Click to purchase "In Winter's Teeth"

In Winter’s Teeth
The Charlevoix Lighthouse stands out any time of year with its bright red aid-to-navigation paint job, but surrounded by a fresh coat of ice it bursts forth like a rocket. The compositional elements lend themselves to this vertical composition as well as the horizontal image I have already made in the same spot.
F22 at 1/125, ISO 400, 14-24mm lens at 17mm

Click to purchase "Patterns at Frankfort Beach"

Patterns at Frankfort Beach
The combined patterns of snow, sand, dune grass, clouds and snow fence make an interesting composition. I like this winter view of the Frankfort shoreline but I know it would be more colorful and more magical if enough light could get out from under those clouds and bounce off them. Nope; not happening tonight. At least I tried.
F22 at 1/5, ISO1600, 14-24mm lens at 14mm

Brad’s Day 1 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

First of all, I want to thank each of you for following along with my dad and I on this new project.  One of the main goals of “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” is for my dad and I to have a lot more quality time with our cameras doing what we love, photographing the natural world around us.  With the 365 Project, we each had to shoot one photograph a day.  That was a great challenge and made us both much more efficient at our craft.  However, many of those days of shooting 365 were limited to less than a 10-minute window of shooting time.  For how little time we actually spent photographing the 365 Project some days, I feel the quality of the project as a whole was surprisingly good.  With “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” we plan on being able to shoot every Tuesday from sunrise to sunset and have cleared off our busy work, volunteering, and social calendars.  Our mission is to each make at least one outstanding piece of art with our cameras every Tuesday during 2012.

Much like the 365 Project, we want to take our fans and customers on this journey with us.  With our new Nikon D7000 camera bodies, we will be able to make the photographic journey with all of you much more interactive because of the High Definition video we will be able to capture while we are out exploring every Tuesday of 2012.   We will also be able to share this experience with you through our blog, facebook, youtube, and our website.  The more interactive this project becomes, the better it will be and the more fun we will all have together.

For my first morning of “Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed” on January 3^rd, 2012, I drove down to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes.  I parked near the dead end of West Shore Road and was soon face to face with a towering wall of sand.  My best guess is that this crazy steep pedestrian sand dune is at least 50 feet tall. With no fence and rope this time of year to help climb the intimidating monster, I choose to leave my 20-pound camera bag in the truck.  Armed with just my Nikon D7000 camera body, my Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 macro lens, and my tripod, I started my trek upwards towards the heavens.

The cold winter temperatures and blowing winds off of Lake Michigan had made the sand incredibly hard and impossibly slippery.  Three quarters of the way up the sand dune, I quickly realized the only way I was going to make it to the summit was to lie on my stomach and do the “worm”.  Using my tripod for leverage and traction, I was slowly making progress.  I decided to shoot my first video at this point.  Foolishly, I thought I could shoot video and still “worm” my way up to the top.  As you saw in the video, that plan did not work so well.  After two failed attempts, I put the camera back around my neck, put my head down, said a little prayer, and flopped, whaled, clawed, kicked, and rolled my way to the top.

Now out of breath, I stood at the top of the dune and quickly had to pull out my sunglasses to keep the whipping sand from peeling my eyeballs out of my head.  As my eyes adjusted, my jaw hit the ground.  I have spent a lot of time on Michigan sand dunes every month of the year, but I had never witnessed anything like what was before me.  Mother Nature, with the help of the Lake Michigan winds, had carved small caves, caverns, and trenches all through the tops of the Silver Lake Sand Dunes.  It was like winning the lotto for a nature photographer.  The sunrise was a dud, but the bright overcast light was actually perfect for the situation that was unfolding in front of me.

Like a prizefighter, I attacked the dunes and quickly moved “twice as close”.  Having my wide-angle macro lens, I was immediately able to get on my stomach and start making strong compositions of the carved earth.  The more I explored, the better it got.  My dad and I treat photography like an action sport, just as our hero Galen Rowell did.  I was up, down, and in the zone.  With my adrenaline on fire, I did not notice that my fingers were slowly starting to stiffen up through my heavy winter gloves.  After five minutes of shooting, I had a major problem.  My fingers were no longer able to operate my tripod and I could barely push the shutter button on my camera.  Knowing I still had not made my best compositions, I dove into my “possibility thinking” subconscious and left the tripod behind.  I jacked up my ISO to 3200 so I could have enough shutter speed and depth of field and kept pushing forward on a quest to make great art.  Less than one minute later I came around a bend in the dunes and instantly knew that I was, as Sam Abbel would say, “in the presence of a picture”.  The alien-like landscape of the Silver Lake Sand Dunes was presenting me a gift; sand sculptures that even Luke Skywalker would have been mystified by.  I quickly made two very different photographs that moved me and then I shot a short video.

Satisfied and frozen, I turned and followed my tracks back to my tripod.  With my gear in hand, I realized that getting down the sand beast was going to be a challenge as well.  Wanting to make this new project as fun and interactive as possible, I decided to shoot video while I “skied” down the double black diamond dune.  As you can see in the video, I stayed on my feet for the first 45 feet or so and then in a last ditch effort to slow down and save my camera, I kicked my feet out and slid the last few feet on my butt.

Once I was back on ground level, I ran as fast as I could back to my truck in order to get my body temperature up.  As I sat in the parking lot with the heat cranked up, the real pain in my fingers began.  It felt like someone had all ten of my fingers in a vise and they were torturing me with a ball pin hammer.  For five minutes I wasn’t sure if I would be able to drive, let alone use my cell phone to dial for help.  Video of this situation would have been R-Rated due to language.  Slowly, the pain subsided and I was able to drive back home to Ludington with the satisfying feeling of knowing I didn’t give up or give in and I got what I wanted; a real life documentation of what nature photographers around the world go through every day to capture the beauty of the world around us.

Day 1 – Brad’s Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed video

Click to play the video

"Sculpted" is Brad's selected image for Week 1 of Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed. Click to purchase this image.

Sculpted
The howling winds off of Lake Michigan and the bitter cold temperatures have turned the peaks of the Silver Lake Sand Dunes into a cavernous landscape.  I laid on my stomach and got very close to a sculpted sand cave in order to lose the size perspective.
F8 at 1/400, ISO 3200, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

Click to purchase "Sand Canyon"

Sand Canyon
I love black and white photography.  Today’s bright overcast light, along with the varying tones of the sand, ice, and snow make for stunning images.  I love how this sand formation looks like it could be part of the Grand Canyon.
F10 at 1/200, ISO 3200, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

Click to purchase "Lake Michigan Breeze"

Lake Michigan Breeze
I have always been drawn to the color blue, especially when it is mixed with shades of green.  The tropical looking waters of Lake Michigan and the golden dune grass blended together perfectly through my large telephoto lens in order to create the warm, calm feeling I was looking for.
F7.1 at 1/2500, ISO 800, 300mm lens at 300mm

Click to purchase "Golden Light"

Golden Light
Simplicity is one of the 20 concepts we teach in our 20/20 Vision workshops.  Simple pictures can be hard to pull off because there  is a very fine line between simple and boring.  Thankfully the gorgeous sunlight reflecting off of Lake Michigan helped make this simple picture beautiful and not boring.
F7.1 at 1/1600, ISO 800, 300mm lens at 300mm

Click to purchase "Top of the World"

Top of the World
I followed this immature bald eagle in my truck all the way from the Sable River inside the Ludington State Park to just south of the first curve on M116.  The beautiful young creature finally came to rest near the top of some trees between Epworth and Lincoln Hills.  The eagle definitely had a bird’s eye view of the world from atop the blowing trees.
F10 at 1/8000, 6400 ISO, 600mm lens at 850mm

Click to purchase "Raptor"

Raptor
After waiting over an hour for this immature bald eagle to fly, it finally took flight and headed the wrong direction.  Luckily I was using my 600mm F4 Nikkor lens with a 1.4 teleconverter on my new Nikon D7000 camera body so I could still show a little detail of this young raptor as it looked for food along the shores of Lake Michigan.
F6.3 at 1/8000, 6400 ISO, 600 mm lens at 850mm

Thank you for following our first Tuesday update.  Over the past two weeks, since announcing the project, we’ve gotten a lot of great photo tips.  The shooting Todd and Brad did today was because of some of the tips from our fans.  Please keep them coming!

To follow along on the project, check back at this blog every week.  We will also post updates on our Facebook fan page.  All our videos will be uploaded to YouTube, which allows for fans to subscribe to our “channel“.  We will also be sending out monthly newsletters with updates on the project.  To purchase photos from Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed, or to see all the photos from the project, log onto our website at ToddandBradReed.com.

Announcing Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Tags

ludington michigan, photography website, reed photography

Mission: Tuesdays with Todd & Brad Reed

Getting Ready for our next BIG project

Tags

brad reed, Ludington, michigan, nikon, photography, todd reed

Yesterday we shot a promo video for our next project which we will announce on January 3. It was the first time we were shooting video with our new Nikon D7000 and new microphone systems. It was also the first time we shot in another location besides the gallery.

There are lots of busy days ahead and we look forward to sharing them with you, starting on January 3.

Student Artist of the Month

Tags

Ludington, photography

Our team at Todd and Brad Reed Photography has recently teamed up with Lake Michigan Broadcasting Company, WKLA FM 106.3 and are sponsoring the local Art Student of the Month and we need your help.

Choosing our new framed canvases

Today we decided which of our 365 Project images we were going to add to our 365 Collection already on the walls in our gallery. The process of picking out images to have printed as canvases…or even large traditional prints is more complicated than you’d think.

With 730 photos to choose from, we narrowed down the possibilities by not only considering OUR favorite images from 2010, but the ones our customers seemed to have the greatest response to. We also had to think about how well the image would sell – even if we didn’t sell the actual canvas, would having a larger version of it on the wall promote sales of a smaller version? Is it a photo that would be easy to decoratewith? What size is appropriate for the image? These are some of the questions we have to ask ourselves.

Once we have the options narrowed down, we make test print files to print on our Epson 2200 in the gallery. This step is required to ensure we like the tones and values of the image before we send the files to our printer, Greg Dunn.

Once we have approved all the test prints, we upload the largest version of the image file to Greg and follow up with email instructions for him on the size and type of prints we need.

For this particular project, we are doing dry-mounted canvases which require framing. We are once again working with Andy Thomas, owner of Artist Market, on the framing. Andy knows us well and understands our customer base so we have complete confidence in giving him full creative license with the framing of these pieces. We delivered the test prints to his shop so he cour begin to make his frame choices before receiving the actual canvases.

We plan to have the new pieces displayed in the gallery by April 27th. Here is a preview of our choices.

Love my job!

I love my job. Taking photos is about 5 percent of what I do on a weekly basis at work. The other 95 percent is actually just as cool and fun. I get to talk to new people every day and find out about their lives. I also get to use the creative marketing side of my brain and that is a blast. I am blessed to have a great team of co-workers and I get to work with my dad every day as well. Life is good!

- Brad

365 Book printing

Tomorrow our new book 365 – A Year in the Photographic Lives of Todd and Brad Reed starts printing at Friesens Corporation in Manitoba, Canada. Printing takes several days, then the pages need to dry before they’re bound together and the hardcover is attached. The whole printing process takes 2 to 3 weeks. Our books will then be boxed up and put on a truck to Ludington.

In about four weeks, after over 15 months of waiting, we will finally see the finished product of the 365 Project in our hands.  Then Todd and Brad will have the task of signing 1000 copies of the book. Meanwhile Sarah, Rachel, and the other gallery employees will work to ensure the shipping and pick-up process go as smooth as possible.