Beautiful HDR photo of Milham Park in Kalamazoo MI
One fine spring day in Milham Park.

Kalamazoo is the home to lots of special places and Milham Park is way up there on the list. My friend Jill told me about historic Milham Park and I’m sure glad she did. It’s 49 acres of creeks, stone bridges and hedges, geese, paths and just a serene, beautiful place.

Windmill Island Holland Michigan
Windmill Island just before dusk.

It’s Tulip Time in Holland, Michigan and Windmill Island is one of the featured attractions for good reason.

It’s a beautiful and leisurely paved walk to the island which is surrounded by marshes with cattails and red winged blackbirds.

Although tourists and vacationers travel from around the world to visit the island during Tulip Time, it’s an attraction that stands on its own and is well worth visiting any time of the year, especially spring, summer and fall.

Click here to purchase print of photo.

It's time to put this boat in the water!

I wanted to share some of the websites/resources that have helped me learn about HDR photography, and also those that inspire me. HDR photography is fun, relatively easy to learn and has only a few extra expenses. Following, are links to websites that I enjoy:

Resources:

HDR Soft is in my opinion, the best HDR program out there.

Topaz Labs is pretty great too!

Inspiration:

Stuck in Customs is the gold standard for HDR

HDR Spotting has great photos that are constantly updated

Photomatix user gallery, guess who’s in it

Online tutorials are available on the Stuck in Customs, Photomatix and Topaz Labs websites.

I especially would like to give a thanks to Trey Ratcliff of Stuck in Customs, his generosity in sharing techniques and his photography are beyond amazing.

Another day of "crash clouds" (can't keep your eyes on the road).

There were beautiful, amazing clouds all day long and then this sweet sunset. Sometimes when the sky is like this, I just have to really FOCUS and quit looking at the sky when I’m driving.

For those of you interested in HDR photography, or meeting me, I’ll be lecturing about HDR photography at the Spring Lake Library on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 7:00 PM. The library is located at 123 East Exchange Street,
Spring Lake, MI 49456-2018. The lecture is free.  I’ll be talking about what HDR photography is, how it’s done and give photography tips.

Here’s a link to my Take Five appearance on WZZM in Grand Rapids, Michigan where I talk about HDR photography and give tips: Video Link

Lake Michigan is Waiting for You to Come for a Visit this Summer.

An email I got a couple of days ago from Dustin, who served in the Marine Corps for five years, made me think about how hard it must spend holidays like this so far from your loved ones. Today I’m dedicating my post to all of you serving in the military. You are loved and appreciated here at home. Thank you for your sacrifices, you are not forgotten.

Since so many of you are overseas in the desert, here’s a nice cool drink of the Northern Michigan shoreline.

Time to get inside and cozy up by the fireplace.

Yep, that’s what Lake Michigan is link in the winter. I took this photo in January near the Grand Haven Pier in the Grand Haven State Park. It was so cold, that if I had a mustache, it would have frozen and broken off.

Just beyond the dune, is the mighty Lake Michigan

I woke up. The sun was shining. And, it was deep freeze cold outside, so of course I decided to head to the lakeshore. On the way to Grand Haven, I was admiring the pretty blue sky, the wind whipped snow glittering on the vast fields of nothing and… what’s that in my rear view mirror? Why, it’s a jacked up truck tailgating me with a huge American flag mounted to the truck gate and flapping in the wind. Welcome to Michigan. You never know what to expect.