topic Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses in Share Your Photos

Lake Michigan Lighthouses

justadude — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 22:32:59 GMT

I'm working on compiling some photos of Lake Michigan lighthouses for a client. If you are not from around here, you may not know that Michigan has 129 lighthouses, which is more than any other state. I don't have photos of all of them (yet) but I have photographed over half of them.

Anyway, thought I would share four of them here. Five photos because there are two favorites of mine of one lighthouse. These were taken with the Canon 80D, RP, and R6 Mk ll.

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

March411 — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:51:19 GMT

Beautiful frames Gary. Love #3

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

Tintype_18 — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 13:54:27 GMT

Nice photos and a fun project, IMO. Born and raised in Ohio. Great Lakes are a vast graveyard. Lake Erie is the worst- shallow which is influenced by high winds. Met one fellow who measured 18 foot waves.

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

justadude — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 20:12:31 GMT

Thank you, Marc! The third photo was a rare lucky catch of Little Sable Lighthouse. While the main light is always on at the top, the interior lights are always turned off after the last tour of the day, before dusk. New lighthouse tour guide forgot to turn them off just one night... and I just so happen to be out there hoping to catch some shots of the Milky Way. Needless to say, I took quite a few photos of the lighthouse. This particular one has sold more copies than any of the other lighthouse photos I have taken over the decades. The last photo (which is also Little Sable) also has sold quite a few... mostly because of the Northern Lights being in the shot as well, but more importantly, at a different perspective of what you normally see when some catches them here, such as in the shot I took below.

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

justadude — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 20:20:14 GMT

Thank you, John! We are practically neighbors! Lake Erie is the worst for shipwrecks, followed closely by Lake Michigan. But when it comes to weather, Superior is the worst. I'm not underestimating 18 foot waves because that is pretty scary. About 10 years ago I remember they recorded some waves at 28 feet in Lake Superior. I can't even imagine what that was like.

So many shipwrecks, yet I always thought it was kind of funny that once a ship enters the Great Lakes, they are then referred to as "boats" no matter how large they are.

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

shadowsports — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 21:04:41 GMT

Gary,

Outstanding. 😍

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

justadude — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:09:21 GMT

Thank you, Rick! Like most of us here, some of our photography is for work, some for fun. Taking shots like these is simply my zen. It's just a bonus when a client wants some of my "just for fun" shots.

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

LeeP — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 20:14:04 GMT

These are calendar worthy and I intend that as a compliment.

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

justadude — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:06:07 GMT

Thank you, Lee! Actually, two of the older ones (first two shots from the 80D) were in calendars about five years ago. I'm always glad when a client decides not to buy photos like these for full rights, simply so I can re-sell them again to other clients at later dates.

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

Tintype_18 — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:31:14 GMT

An aside regarding the excellent photos. Where do you sell them? I'm interested in selling photos, mainly flowers, birds and clouds for now. Thanks.

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

justadude — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:22:10 GMT

Well for the stuff I sell to businesses (95% of my work the past few decades), that's typically word of mouth, contact through other pros I am friends with (only if my niche is different than theirs), existing clients giving my name to potential clients, and a fair amount through social media. But I'm not sharing client info here, which I know you understand.

But for print sales to the general public, I have been using Unit Prints. They are owned by Color Inc, which is a pretty large print house that is just a couple miles from where I live. It's nice because I can drive over and check on prints before they are shipped out. However that being said, I am thinking of moving over to Fine Art America, which has been recommended to me by quite a few photographers that I know. Nice quality, for $30 per year membership you can upload hundreds of photos and use your own domain name (not theirs), and they not only sell all types of prints, but also print on coffee cups, phone cases, blankets, quite a few other things. It's not what I ever thought I would do with any of my photography since it sounds kind of like a big step down from my regular work, but I've been told it's good passive income for general purpose shots, which I seem to have an abundance of. They do have a free version that you can test the waters with, which is limited to uploading 25 photos.

So I'll continue to go for the real money with my business clients, but why not make a few dollars here and there from the general public on the generic photos like these?

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

LeeP — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:58:53 GMT

Shall we all sing "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"?

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

justadude — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 18:11:21 GMT

"Shall we all sing "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"?"

Please... No! 😂

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

LeeP — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 19:51:08 GMT

That made my day. Thank you.

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

zakslm — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 01:43:12 GMT

Gary,

Beautiful shots!

They remind me of some shots of the lighthouse on the shore in Grand Haven, MI I took a long time ago. I recall that I photographed it in winter (and year later in summer). The lighthouse in winter was "decorated" with ice and snow.

Your photos make me want to dig through my boxes and find the photo album containing those shots.

Thanks for posting!

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

LeeP — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 03:56:57 GMT

Truly beautiful work. It's very inspiring.

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

justadude — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:57:00 GMT

Thank you! So you recognized that second shot of the inner light at GH. I've got quite a few of the pier and lighthouses there covered in ice and snow. It's a little more difficult these days since they close the pier when the weather gets like this. Probably for good reason. While most of the people that go out on the pier in icy condition use extreme caution, there are always a few who think it's no big deal to wander out on the ice just off to the side of the pier. Darwin at work.

So dig through and find those photos!

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

mkbctld — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:54:26 GMT

Very nice Gary!

Re: Lake Michigan Lighthouses

justadude — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 21:23:06 GMT

Thank you!