I am adding a permanent post for Bond Falls much in the same way I have done with White Sands N. M., Big Bend N. P., Morgan Falls, and subjects like Sandhill Cranes and Great-blue Herons.   I didn’t find a lot of images handy, especially considering I made pictures here every other year from 1985-2005.  Most of them are on film although the first three below are 2003 digital originals.

Eventually I will delete everything that is not Bond Falls from this post.  I just thought for you regulars it might be more interesting if I included thoughts about other subjects.

The entire point to special posts like this one, is to have a record of my visits to special places or with special subjects, preserved in a segregated format from  images of other subjects.

Bond Falls is a special place and was the only Midwestern location where I used to meet full-time pro landscape photographers.  In a world before the digital craze of image makers, I have met photographers (large and small format) here from every corner of Canada and the U.S.  That speaks volumes about the quality if this special place.

The info below was copied from the internet.

Exploring Bond Falls in the

Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Spectacular Bond Falls, a Michigan Scenic Site, is located on the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon River, 10 miles north of Watersmeet or 9 miles south of Bruce Crossing in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

This scenic waterfall tumbles over ancient fractured volcanic rock in several cascades for a total drop of about 50 feet in all. The falls pools at the bottom creating a little island with a bridge to the island so you can stand in the middle of the falls for an up close view.

There is a new parking area near the base of the falls and an easy level path to the viewing area where you will see one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the Upper Peninsula. A 600′ boardwalk leads to 6 viewing platforms for a wonderful view of the falls and an ideal location for photographers.

There is also roadside parking at the top of the falls where you will find a little park, picnic tables, grills, and a little store that sells snacks and ice cream.

The old trail with some steep rocky climbs on the east side of the falls is still accessible for hikers and there are other trails through the woods.

The steady flow of water over Bond Falls is controlled by a hydroelectric dam operated by the Upper Peninsula Power Company. The flowage above the dam is a delight for anglers of all ages and a favorite fishing spot for trout.

Directions: Tale US-45 north of Watersmeet for 10 miles and turn east on Bond Falls Road in Paulding. Go 3.5 miles and you will arrive at the top of Bond Falls.

From M-28. just east of Bruce Crossing take Calderwood Road south to Bond Falls Road West. Follow the signs to the parking lot and the boardwalk to the viewing platforms.

Visit Bond Falls and enjoy one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the Upper Peninsula.

When I look at images of Bond Falls it reminds me of how I have found many of my best locations over the years.  I was cruising the Upper Peninsula of Michigan looking for a place to sleep and I saw a little brown sign in my headlights….Bond Falls.  The next morning and about ten more times over the years, I was making images at the falls.  I can’t even imagine that with most people today.

The art of roaming and finding things is indeed becoming lost in our over organized, fussy, must find the shortest quickest way society.  Imagine, no cell phone, no GPS, a map that I only used on rare occasions.  I knew where the Upper Peninsula was, and I knew how to find north, south, east and west.

As I see more and more of “the photographer next door” visiting exotic locations that required wilderness backpacking ten years ago, as every remote section of the world gets photographed daily by people with perfectly planned trips, as they sip wine in front of their laptop/I Pad in the evening, I realize that they have lost the most important part of adventure.  They’ve lost the actual adventure itself. Nothing new and amazing gonna surprise these people.

When I think of all of those serendipitous moments in my life, that I experienced because I didn’t plan every second of my life.  Sometimes living is about backing off and letting things happen.

I am ever so grateful that I grew up when I did, and practiced nature photography when I did.   I so miss the wonder of what’s around the next curve in the road, or hill on the trail. I miss that even more than the photography.

Seasons

This is a question that has come up many times in my past, and once recently. Which season do I like the best as a nature photographer?   Specifically in the part of the world where I live.

My answer used to be summer, spring, fall and winter.  Used to be.

I always picked summer because a nature photographer always has something to do in summer.  Every bird and every bug is out and waiting for you.  The days are long and just deciding what to do can be tough.

Spring is excitement.  The nature photographer cannot possibly keep up.  Between bird migration, early woodland flowers and the first insects, every single day brings changes.

Autumn is a season of atmosphere. In this part of the world it is our only real landscape photography season.  We go from a barely adequate to a world-class landscape destination.

Winter is the season of winter birds, and on the right day, atmosphere.  The days are short but the light can be beautiful all day.

Those of you who know me, know full well that over the past 8 years this has all changed for me.  Atmosphere has become more important to me than the sheer number of subjects at my disposal, or the total number of hours that I can make pictures.

Autumn is now my favorite time of year, followed closely by winter.  The quiet and soft beauty of both seasons simply cannot be equaled by a noisy summer day.

Autumn

Winter

Spring

Summer

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Memories……Yes Photography Has Changed

It was in the 1970s and I realized I hadn’t produced and penny in photography income in over a week.  There are always income lags in stock and fine art photography, but commercial should produce on a regular (weekly) basis.  A few weeks ago I had done some post card work for a small mom and pop motel, and the $80 of real profit that I realized, was long gone to say the least.

It’s moments like this that a struggling photographer needs to decide whether he can take a chance and free-lance a little in hopes of producing income, or maybe he should start looking for a real job.  Either way he needs to do something now.

I talked to my wife and we decided we had “just enough” money that I could create some images and prospect a little.   I grabbed my Calumet Horseman 4×5 and two film backs (four frames of film), my three lenses, tripod and got ready to head for a day in the mountains.  A day in the mountains to create potentially important pictures, and I can click the shutter exactly four times. Every single frame of transparency film would have to be perfect.  Exposure, focus, depth of field, composition.  Perfect.  I got nervous and grabbed my 35mm Canon camera and one roll of Kodachrome film.  I would only use the 35mm film, if I did not think that I produced four perfect frames of 4×5.

Can you local photographers, envision grabbing your digital cameras and memory cards, traveling to one of this area’s most beautiful locations, and only being allowed four pictures?

I took off for Estes Park and then south past Mary’s Lake.  I was headed for a 19^th century stone Catholic Church that sat in the middle of some beautiful mountain streams, and was backed by a series of snow-capped peaks.  They were called The Never Summer Range. The light was perfect, but I had only minutes.  10 minutes and four exposures.  I made hand-held incident meter readings and counterbalanced with a hand-held 1% reflective spot meter.  Perfect.  I hoped.

Well, all the way to the mountains, hopefully everything worked out….. but ten minutes?  In two weeks my wife and I were headed to do some mountain backpack camping with our dogs, but come on…….ten minutes.  I can see these mountains every day of my life and I make pictures up there once every couple of months.  I decided to take a slow wilderness drive back down.  I actually stopped by a mountain stream and used my Canon to photograph some rock detail in the crisp, clear water.  I wasn’t likely to sell any of the “four frames” of 35mm that I allowed myself to make.

A few days later my 4x5s were back from the lab and I was happy to see, that I hit everything just as it had to be…..perfect.  I packaged my 4x5s in plastic/cardboard viewing sleeves and added them to a submission with 300 35mm slides, and 60 6×7 medium format transparencies.  I quickly shipped them off to New York.  I had tried three times to get accepted with one of the world’s largest stock photo houses, Globe Photos. Maybe this time.

Yes my little foray into the mountains, and my attempt to speculate on future success, did have a reasonably happy ending.  Three months (yes three months) later I received my first check from Globe for an image published in a French calendar.  The image was that little church in the mountains.

After a couple of more years of on again and off again success, my conscience finally got the best of me, and once again I entered the world of the day job.  Globe Photos went out of business and I never even got my precious images back.  In another year I bumped up my auto racing photography into that “part time professional” level, and once again I was off to the races….so to speak.

It was a very different time in those earlier years of photography.  Every era has its ups and downs, and my beginnings in the 1970s were no different.  I wouldn’t change a thing.

Enjoy your day,                                                                                                                                     Wayne