When It’s More Than Just a Picture

A Michigan Photographer, His Camera, and His Thoughts

Hi friends! My name is Rick and welcome to my photography blog. I am a Michigan photographer and storyteller based along the beautiful shores of Thunder Bay in Northeast Michigan. Thank you for joining me as I explore life through my photographic adventures. The purpose of this blog is to share life experiences and stories as a photographer, artist, creative, and human. It’s about sharing stories which provoke thought and pictures which stir emotions. It won’t be perfect but I promise it will be real. 

When you pick up a camera, you instantly start to view the world differently. Colors and contours take on new meanings. Light and lines start to jump out to you as never before. You see the world in a whole new way. All of the clutter and chaos seem to fall away when you look through the viewfinder. You change. You grow.

Nothing stirs the emotions quite like a great photograph. The right picture can stir the mind and move the soul. A photographer can convey moods and emotions to viewers without the use of a single word. A really great picture can transport you to another time, another place. The best pictures you can feel...hear...smell. They bring back memories and invoke deep feelings. These special moments in life are hard to capture but when you do, they can be magical. To the viewer, they become more than just a picture.

Take the shot above. For some, it may just look like another photographer taking a decent sunrise selfie. This particular shot was taken at one of my favorite places in all of Michigan. It never fails to provide a great picture. It also never fails to provide me needed moments of clarity, peace and solitude. I remember it was a cool Sunday morning with fairly low cloud cover when I set out. About 15 minutes before sunrise, you could start to see the oranges and reds begin to shoot up from over the horizon. I could sense a special energy in the air. I could feel something special about to happen. I set my camera to shoot a time lapse and just sat down, letting it shoot every few seconds. As the sun began to rise, the colors exploded across the Lake Huron sky. I was lost in the moment, completely unaware of the camera snapping away behind me.

There is a special kind of calmness and peace to be found in a quiet sunrise. For me, it’s something I get nowhere else. Those few moments each morning are heavy with symbolism. Each sunrise brings another day full of new opportunities, chances at new beginnings, and a renewed hope in life. Rarely do I not walk away inspired, energized, and optimistic.

Flashback to the moment this picture was taken. I was just starting to emerge from an extended dark period in my life. I had been struggling. My relationships, my career, my physical and mental health, all had been suffering. Recovering was tough...painful. But, I was slowly starting to rebuild my life in positive ways. Things weren’t perfect but my health, my relationships, my career, my life were all trending in a positive direction. That morning, the energy from that serene sunrise filled my soul with peace and hope. For the first time in years, I really felt I was going to be ok. Now, whenever I view this shot, I am instantly taken back to that feeling...that moment in time. It’s so much more than just a picture. It represents a time of hope. It represents resilience. It represents a period of rebirth.

​A creative at heart, I strive to bring a personal feeling to every shot I share. Capturing moments in time and portraying feelings through pictures is how I express emotions and hope to stir them in others. I hope you’ll stick with me as I share what moves me, hoping it moves you as well.

Until next time...Go chase those moments that leave you speechless.