Northport Photo Exhibit Photographers 2025
Paul Anderson
My love of photography started over 70 years ago when my Dad gave me his old Argus C3 camera. Finding patterns in nature and capturing moments in life that stop you in your tracks….that’s what I aim for. I love shooting people, especially in my travels around the world. Photos that draw you in, make you smile, and make you wonder about the world around us. Photos open us to dream, imagine, and transform.
Robert Bayer
I became interested in photography after receiving a "Spy" attache case with a hidden built in camera when I was a child. In the early ‘90s I got hooked again while scuba diving in Cozumel after watching our dive guide glide through the water capturing images of the undersea world. In the early 2000's, I mentioned to a co-worker that I was into underwater photography. He then convinced me to join a local camera club which held monthly meetings and competitions.
Having some of the best photographers in the Grand Rapids area available to me through the camera club, I picked their brains and improved my photography skills greatly. Eventually, some of them started sharing their "Secret" photography spots or would notify me when a hard to find animal was in the area.
It was through the camera club that I was invited to photograph the athletes in numerous sports for the State Games of Michigan in both the Summer Games and the Winter Games. From my images of the State Games, I was referred to the West Michigan Sports Commission where I was invited to photograph the Meijer LPGA Classic, EPSN X-Games Mastercraft Throwdown, USA Masters track & Field, the first High School Gridiron Classic event and the Michigan High School Gymnastics Finals.
Since moving to Northport in 2016, I’ve done photography for the Northport Performing Arts Center and the Northport Arts Association events as well as local high school sports. In 2021, I had an entry in Art prize, and I currently have two of my images hanging at the new wing of the McLaren Hospital in Petoskey.
Amber Bingham
Amber settled in Leelanau County in 2005 and enjoys being creative in all aspects of her life. As with most things you give time and attention to, photography is one interest that she continues to develop and over the last several years it has grown into a rewarding hobby.
Finding her most joy when immersed in nature, her photos focus on that inspiration attempting to capture the beauty of the present moment.
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it”.. Confucius. You can follow her on Instagram, under the handle "Ambovison".
Ryan Blessing
My name is Ryan Blessing. I'm a native to Northport and I've had an interest in photography since getting a digital camera back in middle school. Moving away to college in the Upper Peninsula really spurred my interest when I was suddenly living just moments away from rivers, waterfalls, and forests that all had something to offer the inner photographer. Although I still have a digital camera, my phone has become a camera that's always at the ready and I've been fortunate enough to get some special shots when I'm out on the go. Many thanks to the Northport Arts Association for giving me the chance to show some of my pieces.
Tracey Bos
Tracey is a self-taught film and alternative processes photographer who lives in mid Michigan.
She shoots with a variety of cameras ranging from lo-fi to more complex models.
Curiosity drives her exploration into manipulating the interaction of film with chemistry to get unique results.
Scott Cain
Ursula advised me
Share one’s true name never
You may call me Scott it’s not so clever
And here I bring these photos in hand
Each one just as silly, nothing to grand
As for why I do
It’s just me trying to be true
I was either seeking solitude
Or trying to get paid by some dude.
Don Daniels
I have been a native Michigander who has been an amateur photographer for more than 45 years. Actually, I became interested in photography more than 67 years ago when my uncle (Ben) gave me 8 very old film cameras (dating back to the 1930s and 40s). He also threw in some ancient dark room equipment to process black and white film. Those cameras ranged from a folding Kodak to a large Graflex press camera (with flash and plates to slide into the back of the camera). I learned my bedroom closet made a great darkroom (if you stuff a blanket at the bottom of the door and put black electrical tape on the skeleton key hole). After 3 years of learning those cameras and smelling up my room with photographic chemicals’ set photography aside to pursue more interesting things (like baseball and girls).
It was not until the Vietnam War that I was reintroduced to photography in 1968. After being wounded, having surgery I was moved to Japan for recovery and therapies. When I was released from the hospital I was reassigned to clerical duties and actually had time on my hands and wanted to record sites I was seeing in Japan. So, I bought my first reflex camera, a Yashika 35mm. I began taking photos and was able to develop them for free on base at the local USO facility. Some of the photos were shared with other service men and one day the full Bird Colonel contacted me and requested I take pictures of Miss America (there was no Ms. at that time) touring the base. This photo assignment got me really motivated and prior to leaving Japan I pawned my Yashika and bought a Nikon SLR (film) with two lenses (35mm and 50mm). Look out America, I am back and with a cool camera.
As I became better at taking pictures (people started to want copies), I learned that there were many areas of photography (e.g. Portraits, Abstract, Landscape, Nature, Astro, Still Life, Street, Industrial and more) that needed to be explored. So, I did that. Which led me to loving Nature photography. Which led me to taking more photographs in Northern Michigan at my in-law’s place. Which led my wife and I to buy land in Buckley and build a summer home (which is now our home for a while). Which then allowed me to spend days and weeks and years taking photographs of Nature (wild life, rivers, hills, lakes etc.). Which led me to joining the Traverse Area Camera Club. Which has now led me to North Port and submitting some photographs I hope you will all enjoy.
There is more to my story concerning my love of photography (many parts boring and sometimes crazy over 40 plus years) but Northport said they wanted a brief Bio.
Lisa Flaska Erickson
Lisa’s eye responds to the grace and allure of Northern Michigan. Her unique view has been capturing the soul of the moment and captivating her audience. The Traverse City native is one of the most sought after landscape photographers in the area and has been published in a number of national publications. Through her lens, she defines the soul of the Great Lakes and their environs.
To see more of her work go to LFEpictures.com
Marjorie Farrell
Marjorie has been a life long artist, a creative person since someone gifted her with a Brownie camera.
She became serious about photography after moving to New York State which lead to a decades long career as an art photographer and working as a photographer and photo researcher for a stock photography agency. Photography has allowed her to combine her interest in architecture,
history, the mysteries hidden in plain sight, story telling, and the whimsy in everyday items.
Her photography has been in many shows in New York, and Michigan.
Walt Farrell
Walt has been a photographer for about 40 years now, and is often attracted to scenes that exhibit strong interplay between light & shadow, reflections, surface patterns, and intense color. He also looks for interesting architectural details, and works with extreme closeup shots and sometimes strongly-altered color (though not in this show).
Bruce Haas
Since I was young person, I would paint water colors and tape them to the window to have the light shine through them. I still paint, but have added other areas like stained glass and photography. Sometimes I combine the two.
As an adult I became a researcher and evaluator for children, youth, and family programs for Michigan State University, where every chance I tried to use and integrate art to communicate, collect information, and report impacts.
Mike Haynes
Mike is a Northport resident and a self-taught photographer. He is a contributing photographer for Pixabay, Pexels, and iStock by Getty Images. Mike also dabbles in writing, painting, and rock art.
Mike uses photography to tell stories and to help others see the world in different ways. Mike’s goal is to demonstrate that even the simplest objects in front of a lens can stimulate curiosity and evoke emotion.
The works on display represent Mike’s attempt to use balance, rhythm and overall composition in order to trigger a response from viewers.
Marilyn Hoogstraten
Photography began as a hobby for me, photographing my young daughters, their friends, their activities, and the landscape around me. I bought used darkroom equipment and spent hours printing my parents' old negatives. When my daughter’s best friend said, “But you are going to photograph my wedding, aren’t you?” I bought a digital camera and took a workshop. I loved wedding photography, and when I had an opportunity to retire from my “real” job, I started an “encore career” in photography. I found over the years, even in wedding photography, that it was capturing the details, the essence of a place, or the emotion of a person, that I enjoyed most. Now I shoot for myself, celebrating the shape, the form, the design of the space around me, and collecting through photography things that delight me.
Image: Reflections of the Ottaway
Alexa Hughes
Alexa is a native of Traverse City and has had an interest in photography since childhood after serving as the frequent subject of her mother’s black & white photography. Alexa studied English and Art at the University of Michigan and worked as a professional photographer in Chicago and then northern Michigan after returning to the area in 2013. Alexa’s photography work is created to tell stories and evoke emotion through her expression of color (or lack thereof), composition, light, and darkness.
Alexa is an interior designer and co-owner of Design Fluent Interiors in Traverse City.
Coreene Kreiser
For as long as I can remember, I have always had an innate need to create and express myself through art. As a child, the best present I ever received was a plastic art easel. It prompted me to spend hours practicing to be the next Bob Ross. Within a couple of years, I burned rolls and rolls of film as my best friend Dana modeled among the apple trees near our home.
I refined my love of photography by earning my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Western Michigan University in 2002. Then I learned more than I could have imagined working for big city commercial photographers & international clients before taking my career freelance in 2008. In 2020, I earned my Masters of Art in Photography from Savannah College of Design and my Masters of Art History & Visual Culture from Lindenwood University in 2022.
I view my photography as more than just a way to make a living. My hope is that you are able to experience all the beauty in the world in a different way, that you are able to see it through my eyes.
Coreene is also the owner of Northern Michigan Talent & Production and teaches yoga with her company Yoga Vidya North.
Ted Lacey
Ted Lacey does fine art photography and sculpture in Traverse City. He moved to TC full time after having had a career in photography in Chicago. He has a BA Degree--and did post graduate work--in English. After taking a college course in experimental techniques, he taught black-and-white darkroom photography classes in his studio.
Diane Lather Belfour
Born in a darkroom on the shores of Lake Michigan, diane lather belfour has been a photographer for most of her life.
A passion for capturing the emotion of weddings and portraits kept her very busy for 35 years. Sensing there was more to do, diane decided it was time to play!
Loving traditional photography, diane will never abandon it!
Born and raised in Suttons Bay, she was taught photography by both her parents; her dad taught her it was all about the eye, never about the camera.
She was never allowed to have anything but an Instamatic until she could create good images with it. And even when she finally got an SLR, it was one lens at a time, learning the capabilities of each one well.
On her very first trip to Europe, she followed that rule: One Camera. One Lens… capture it from that perspective.
The basics learned from her dad, the playfulness coming from her mom: don’t follow the rules, do something daring, do what you love, pour your heart and soul into it!
What she seeks is to shoot compelling images and, sometimes, send them on a grand adventure of their own.
Her motto: "To laugh & create is to live & love!"
Leelanau 5th Generation Photography
leelanau5thgenphoto@gmail.com
Esther Send
I am married to a cherry farmer with 3 married kids and 5 grand kids. I have had a camera since I was 11 years old, at a time when you usually didn't give a kid a camera. While I mostly tend to focus on nature shots, I'm inclined to take photos of many other things that catch my eye.
My other interests include machine embroidery and sewing. There are times when I can combine photography with one or both of the other interests.
As a life long resident of Leelanau County, I find plenty of picturesque settings that demand being photographed.
Mark Smith
I live in Leland and my personal interest is landscape photography. I am privileged to take many pictures for the Leelanau Conservancy and I enjoy meeting the wonderful people who put their land into conservation easements. I mostly use vintage lenses for my photography as they provide character to my photos. In addition to photography I am secretary for Omena Historical Society and I do a lot of research and writing about local history in Leelanau County. You can purchase my photos at Leelanau Landscapes, but I have even more photos on Flickr. Enjoy life. It's a beautiful world out there.
Don Spezia
Influenced by the elements of nature...
I have been interested in photography, since acquiring my first 35mm camera. Photographs usually include nature, wildlife, architecture, moments in time, motion, and landscapes. My favorite photographs are outdoors, influenced by the elements of nature. A photograph of something unplanned will will find me, instead of me finding a photograph of something I was hoping to capture.
I shoot 35mm digital with a Canon 90D, a number of lenses; and an occasional iPhone 8 photograph. I had been a member of the West Shore Camera Club (Muskegon, MI), from 2003 to 2010. I served on the Board as Secretary/Newsletter Editor most of those years.
I have had photographs accepted for showing at various juried Art Exhibits, including a Purchase award at the Muskegon Museum of Art, and various Honorable Mentions at a number of exhibits. Among the latest are an Honorable Mention for “Abstract Matters” category at 311 Gallery in Raleigh, NC, and an Honorable Mention for the 2023 Plein Air Photo Shoot for the Northport Arts Association (NAA), and an Honorable Mention at the 2024 NAA Photo Contest. I have had a photograph accepted for publication in the Walloon Writers Review 9th Edition, slated for publication in 2025.
I have worked as an Architect as my career and retired in 2017. Other activities include playing and writing original guitar instrumentals. My photography has been used in the CD case design in all of my 9 different music CD's. More information can be found on my website:
Tim Wade
I have been working with photography for over 40 years, beginning in the mid/late seventies. In the early years, I worked primarily with black and white and branched into color later on. At the time I exhibited in various art shows and galleries around Michigan, most frequently in Ann Arbor.
Having retired, I have the luxury of spending more time with photography. I work in both color and black and white; my artistic side prefers black and white. I have converted to completely digital work and do my own printing. All the work you see here is archivally produced.
Sheen Watkins
Sheen is a landscape, bird, nature, and adventure photographer who thrives on capturing the beauty of the outdoors in all its forms. As a Part 107 FAA certified drone pilot, she also brings perspectives from above, showcasing nature from angles most people never get to see.
She feels most at home in the outdoors, on the road, anywhere surrounded by the sights and sounds of nature. Based in Michigan, Sheen finds endless inspiration in the changing seasons—each one bringing new photo opportunities and creative challenges.
Whether it’s a quiet forest path, birds in flight, or a magnificent night sky view, Sheen’s photography reflects her deep love for the natural world and the adventures that come with exploring it.
Explore her work at www.sheenwatkins.art.
Rachel Winslow
Rachel Winslow is an innkeeper, light artist, and self taught experimental photographer living in Leland, MI. Her work focuses on the use of homemade, vintage, and toy cameras to make photographs that are abstract and dreamlike. She has taught countless film photography workshops through the years and her musician portraiture has been featured on national platforms such as Pitchfork, NPR, and more. She's been shooting film for 16 years and is constantly exploring new & unconventional ways to photograph using experimental methods.