Somewhere...

Uneven Three

Forest's Edge

The Old Guard

On The Woodline

Nimbus

Young Pines In Sunlight

The Wizard

Changing Seasons

Synapse

Flow, My Tears

Rage

Small Refuge

Canopy

Stillness

Glancing Light

Hidden Giant

Spring Oaks

Unrepentant

Sorcery

Left Behind

Along The Way

Entanglement

Elegant Pair

Tenuous Four

Edge

Death and Rebirth

Huddle

Shades Of Green

Twisty Two

Sassafras

Trinary

Roadside

Unbroken

A Quiet Place

Tight

Graceful Pair

Lush

Duo

Forest Road

I first stumbled into the Allegan Forest in March, 2004. Properly called “The Allegan State Game Area,” the forest forest is about 51,000 acres of woodland, pine barrens, oak savanna, and wetlands. Over the years I have made countless trips to many locations within the forest. Initially my focus was on photographing insects, wildlife, wildflowers and birds. Over time the emphasis shifted to photographing the landscape in black and white.

In late 2019 I made a few photos that seemed to capture the forest in a different way, and that led to an emphasis on intimate landscapes of forest scenes.

I chose to photograph with black and white film, in large part because the film process is so enjoyable. It also requires the photographer to really think about composition and exposure. Old manual cameras offer no short cuts or automation. Each step of the process,- composing, metering, developing, even the selection of film and developers – requires an intentional decision. There’s no spray and pray. These photos were all make on medium format film. Most were made with a Ricoh Diacord L twin lens reflex camera, though a Pentax 6x7, Ricohmatic R225, and Minolta Autocord have all made contributions.

The project continues... and it continues to be a lot of fun!

Updated 1/11/2026

Ornate Snipe Fly

Stinkbug

Cave Cricket

Longhorn Beetle

Tree Hopper

Earwig

Crane Fly

Cicada Exoskeleton

Snipe Fly

Four Lined Plant Bug

Ermine Moth

Ant Queen

Plant Hopper

Fly

Milkweed Bug

Fireflly

Bumble Bee

Snipe Fly

Cicada

Ground Spider

Ailanthus Webworm Moth

Carpener Ant Queen

Hover Fly

Crane Fly

Japanese Beetle

Leaf Footed Bug

Hover Fly

Leaf Footed Bug

June Bug

Green Bottle Fly

This is a collection of photographs of common insects and spiders. These macro photos were shot at high magnification levels, ranging from approximately 2x to 8x lifesized. Focus stacking was utilized to preserve image quality while maintaining depth of field. The focus stacking process involves taking several exposures of the subject, moving the camera slightly closer with each. Only a small portion of each exposure is in focus. These separate exposures are then digitally combined, with the sharpest portion of each extracted and combined to make a composite that has great depth of field and sharpness.

Wild Dogwood

Sunflower

Rhododendron Flower Bud

Gray Coneflower Bud

Cherry Blossom

Sunflower

Doodle (Virginia Creeper)

Viburnum

Grapevine Stem and Tendril

Alstroemeria

Peace Lily

Greenhouse Mum

Goldenrod Gall

Maple Twig

Periwinkle

Grapevine Tendrils On Rhododendron Stem

Tulip Poplar Leaf

Milkweed Seed Pod

Viburnum Bud

The photographs in this gallery are studies of plants. The subjects include dried seed pods, tendrils, florist flowers, and house plants. Some were living, some were dead, some were dormant - but all manifest a richness of form, structure, and texture.

The inspiration for this project is the work of early 20th century photographer Karl Blossfeldt. His close-up photographs of plants presented their subjects with startling realism that dramatically expressed their natural structures.

While inspired by Blossfeldt’s works, the goal of these photographs is to explore plants using contemporary photographic techniques. Among the techniques employed, these studio photographs utilize “focus stacking,” a process by which multiple images are combined to overcome the limitations of depth-of-field and diffraction that challenge high magnification photography. On average each image presented here is a composite of 62 separate exposures.

Photographs of snowflakes / snow crystals. Taken from 1999 through 2015. If you'd like to see still more snowflakes, click here fore  a link to all of the blog posts here the cover this subject - including many photos not featured here:

Wild Columbine - Aquilegia canadensis

Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis

Hepatica

Fern Fiddlehead

Trout Lily- Erythronium

Canada Violet - Viola canadensis

Drooping Trillium - Trillium flexipes

Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus - Opuntia humifusa

Wildflower Bouquet - Trillium, Spring Beauty & Dwarf Ginseng

Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis

Common Trillium - Trillium grandiflorium

Harbinger of Spring - Erigenia bulbosa

Frozen Bloodroot

Spring Beauty - Claytonia virginica

Hepatica

Dutchman's Britches - Dicentra cucullaria

Hepatica in Wild Leek Foliage

False Rue Anemone - Enemion biternatum

Hepatica

Hepatica

Hepatica

Canada Violet - Viola canadensis

Hepatica

Hepatica

Spring Beauty - Claytonia virginica

Quadrillium - Four Petaled Trillium

Bellwort - Uvularia grandiflora

Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis

Frozen Hepatica

Hepatica

Trout Lily- Erythronium

Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis

March Marigold - Caltha palustris

Hepatica

False Rue Anemone - Enemion biternatum

Dutchman's Britches - Dicentra cucullaria

Common Trillium - Trillium grandiflorium

Spring Beauty - Claytonia virginica

May Apple flower - Podophyllum

Drooping Trillium - Trillium flexipes

Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis

False Rue Anemone - Enemion biternatum

False Rue Anemone - Enemion biternatum

False Rue Anemone - Enemion biternatum

Dutchman's Britches - Dicentra cucullaria

Prairie Trillium - Trillium recurvatum (?)

Wild Lupine - Lupinus perennis

Wild Lupine Foliage

Hepatica

Hepatica

Hepatica

Dwarf Ginseng - Panax trifolius

Hepatica

Dutchman's Britches - Dicentra cucullaria

White Trout Lily - Erythronium albidum

Touch Me Not - Impatiens capensis

Hepatica

Hepatica

False Rue Anemone - Enemion biternatum

Wild Prairie Rose - Rosa arkansana

Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus - Opuntia humifusa

Common Trillium - Trillium grandiflorium

Hepatica

Hepatica

Blue Eyed Mary -Collinsia verna

Hepatica

Dutchman's Britches - Dicentra cucullaria

Hepatica

Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis

Spring Beauty - Claytonia virginica

Faded Trillium

False Rue Anemone - Enemion biternatum

Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis

Hepatica

Hepatica

Hepatica

Hepatica

Hepatica

White Trout Lily - Erythronium albidum

Common Trillium - Trillium grandiflorium

Rue Anemone - Thalictrum thalictroides

Spring Beauty - Claytonia virginica

Hepatica

Tall Coneflower -Rudbeckia laciniata

False Rue Anemone - Enemion biternatum

May Apple flower - Podophyllum

Hepatica

Faded Trillium

Dutchman's Britches - Dicentra cucullaria

Hepatica

Wild Geranium - Geranium maculatum

Common Violet

Emergence - Tulip Poplar Leaf

Night Blooming Cereus

Feral Sunflower

Thistle Head

Autumn Splash

A collection of wildflowers with a few domestic garden flowers at the very end... Most of these photographs are of spring ephemerals, also called woodland wildflowers. These plants occupy a unique ecological niche - they emerge from the forest floor for a few short weeks in the early spring, when the trees are still leafless and sunlight shines directly onto the group. The flourish in this small niche of time and fade away as the trees bud, the canopy builds, and the sun is ultimately shaded. These flowers include bloodroot, hepatica, false rue anemone, trillium, harbinger of spring and many others. Sprinkled throughout this gallery are summer wildflowers and a few garden flowers and general botanical subjects appear at the very end. Enjoy!

Blue Dasher (Male)

Whitefaced Meadowhawk

Blue Dasher On Mullein

Blue Dasher (Female)

Halloween Pennant (Female)

Halloween Pennant (Male)

Widow Skimmer

Twelve Spotted Skimmer

Gold In Purple

Blue Dasher

Dragonfly

Halloween Pennant

Halloween Pennant

Calico Pennant (Male)

Calico Pennant (Female)

Autumn Meadowhawk

Unidentified Meadowhawk

Unidentified Meadowhawk

Unidentified Meadowhawk

Whitefaced Meadowhawk

Blue Dasher

Whitefaced Meadowhawk

Whitefaced Meadowhawk

Blue Dasher

Unidentified Meadowhawk

Unidentified Clubtail

Eastern Amberwing

Whitefaced Meadowhawk

Whitefaced Meadowhawk

Calico Pennant (Male)

Calico Pennant (Female)

Blue Dasher

Unidentified Meadowhawk

Unidentified Meadowhawk

Unidentified Clubtail

Autumn Meadowhawk (a.k.a. Yellow Legged Meadowhawk)

Unidentified Meadowhawk

Widow Skimmer

Unidentified Meadowhawk

Calico Pennant (Male)

Unidentified Meadowhawk

Whitefaced Meadowhawk

Unidentified Meadowhawk

Blue Dasher

Whitefaced Meadowhawk

Calico Pennant (Female)

Calico Pennant (Male)

Unidentified Meadowhawk

Blue Dasher

Autumn Meadowhawk (a.k.a. Yellow Legged Meadowhawk)

Common dragonflies from southwest Michigan! For a few more exotic subjects, checkout the Otonata category.

Karner Blue - Lycaeides melissa samuelis

Dance Fly - family Empididae

Chinese Mantis - Tenodera sinensis

Casebearer Beetle – family Chrysomelidae

Firefly - probably Photinus pyralis

Grasshoppers on Red Flowers

American Copper - Lycaena phlaeas

Nursury Web Spider - Pisaurina mira

Monarch Butterfly - Danaus plexippus

Bee Hunter (Robberfly) - genus Laphria

"Just Visiting" - unidentified gnat in abandoned hornet nest

Flesh Fly - family Sarcophagidae (?)

Lady Bug - family Coccinellidae

Caddisfly (aquatic stage - in case) - order Trichoptera

Caddisfly (aquatic stage - in case) - order Trichoptera

American Copper - Lycaena phlaeas

Honey Bee on Clover - Apis mellifera

Coral Hairstreak - Satyrium titus

Jumping Spider - family Salticidae (?)

Robberfly - family Asilidae (possibly male Efferia aestuans)

Swallowtail Caterpillar - family Papilionidae

Luna Moth - Actias luna

Luna Moth Wing Detail - - Actias luna

Flesh Fly - family Sarcophagidae (?)

American Copper - Lycaena phlaea

Snow Fleas - Hypogastrura nivicola

Snow Fleas - Hypogastrura nivicola

Ambush Bug with Prey - family Reduviidae

Common Green Bottle Fly - Lucilia sericata

Green Lacewing - family Chrysopidae

Honey Bee - Apis mellifera

Karner Blue - Lycaeides melissa samuelis

Bee Hunter (Robberfly) - genus Laphria

Eastern Tailed Blue - Cupido comyntas

Green Bottle Fly - Lucilia sericata

Flesh Fly - family Sarcophagidae (?)

Tick on Grass Blade - family Ixodidae (?)

Tick on Grass Blade - family Ixodidae (?)

Karner Blue - Lycaeides melissa samuelis

Eastern Tailed Blue - Cupido comyntas

American Copper - Lycaena phlaea

Midge on Trillium Flower - family Chironomidae (?)

Cicada Hunter - family Crabronidae

Mantid Fly - family Mantispidae (?)

Ant with Recently Shed WIngs

Odonate exuvia

Green Bottle Fly - Lucilia sericata

Eastern Tailed Blue - Cupido comyntas

Tiger Swallowtail - Papilio Glaucus

Blue-black Spider Wasp with Prey - family Pompilidae

Flesh Fly - family Sarcophagidae (?)

Monarch Butterfly - Danaus plexippu

Walking Stick - family Diapheromeridae

Tiger Swallowtail - Papilio Glaucus

Ebony jewelwing - Calopteryx maculata

Eastern Tailed Blue - Cupido comyntas

Honey Bee - Apis mellifera

Monarch Butterfly Caterpiller on Milkweed - Danaus plexippu

Spotted Cucumber Beetle - family Chrysomelidae

Green Lacewing - family Chrysopidae

Clearwing Moth - family Sesiidae

Flesh Fly - family Sarcophagidae (?)

Karner Blue - Lycaeides melissa samuelis

Unknown Spider

Flesh Fly - family Sarcophagidae (?)

Tiger Swallowtail - Papilio Glaucus

Honey Bee - Apis mellifera

Karner Blue - Lycaeides melissa samuelis

Honey Bee - Apis mellifera

American Copper - Lycaena phlaeas

Spotted Cucumber Beetle - family Chrysomelidae

Karner Blue - Lycaeides melissa samuelis

Thread-waisted Wasp - subfamily Sphecinae

Flesh Fly - family Sarcophagidae (?)

Monarch Butterfly - Danaus plexippus

Red Eyed Fly - family unknown

Honey Bee - Apis mellifera

Flesh Fly - family Sarcophagidae (?)

Edwards's Hairstreak (Satyrium edwardsii)

European Skipper, Thymelicus lineola

Unknown Grasshopper on Dried Flower

Ebony Jewelwing - Calopteryx maculat

Cicada - family Cicadidae

Black Swallowtail - Battus philenor

Jumping Spider with Prey - family Salticidae (?)

Mating Grasshoippers

Flesh Fly - family Sarcophagidae (?)

Stinkbug - Extreme Macro

Insects and spiders - and more! This gallery features photos of  insects and arthropods generally from southwest Michigan. The only insects you won't find here are dragonflies - who hae their own gallery.

In general I have attempted to identify the insect to at least the taxonomic family level to the best of my abilities. But I'm not an entomologist and identifications from photos is always a little iffy - so please do not consider my identifications to be authoritative at all. Hopefully they will point you in the right direction, though. 

Enjoy!

Winter Splash - South Haven, Michigan

Holland Sunset

Point Iroquois Light

South Haven Beach

Grand Island East Channel Light

Crisp Point

Moonset at St. Joseph

Winter at South Haven

Big Red, Holland, Michigan

Moonset at South Haven

Daybreak at St. Joseph

Framed In Ice, South Haven, Michigan

Whitefish Point Light Station

Whitefish Point Light Station (Detail)

Crisp Point

South Haven Dawn

Snow Squall at South Haven

Crisp Point Lighthouse

Moonstruck, South Haven, Michigan

Grand Haven Lighthouse

Wave Breaking at South Haven

Sailing Home, Grand Haven, Michigan

Foggy Sunset at St. Joseph

Sunset at South Haven, Michigan

South Haven Lighthouse, Pinhole Style

A collection of great lakes lighthouse photos, mostly from the the Lake Michigan shore. This includes lighthouses from South Haven, Grand Haven and St. Joseph Michigan plus a few from the U.P. Enjoy!