Spring, like an engrossing book, reveals itself one page at a time — so, too, does this issue of Michigan BLUE.
Readers likely felt invited on this journey by the photo on the cover, the magical split second a sleeping fawn was captured in its field of green by Ludington photographer Brad Reed. Brad is part of a two-man team with his father Todd, who has long devoted his life to nature photography.
The pair offered so many exquisite images of Michigan revealing itself in the early days of spring, it became a days-long task to agree on the one image to be published in BLUE Magazine’s most prized space. Readers are treated to many of the additional images considered in the photo feature beginning on page 42.
You are invited to share your personal favorite(s): email or write to us at BLUE (addresses are provided on page 16) or join the conversation on social media on Facebook, mibluemag.com or @miblue on Twitter. We really appreciate your comments as another way to share the Michigan love and continue the conversation.
Brad shared his motivation with Managing Editor Howard Meyerson, “Spring fills me with a sense of hope. Hope for new beginnings, magic light, big clouds and lots of photography adventures.” His father Todd added, “Nothing excites me more about spring than seeing new life and new colors increasingly transforming the Michigan outdoors. I crave orchards in full bloom, fawns in meadows and songbirds amidst new leaves shimmering in the spring breeze.”
This feature is but one of those collected for the Spring issue of Michigan BLUE. The feature, “Cultivating a legacy,” also offered colorful, artistic images for cover consideration. And writer Marla R. Miller skillfully includes important notes on Native American roots for the public garden sanctuaries about which she writes. These very special places mean less without the visitors who witness their beauty and celebrate the gift they represent.
Michigan BLUE also provides a focus on the rivers and, especially, the trout running through them in spring. Michigan waterways are abundant, 120 major rivers equal 36,350 total miles. Michigan State University Extension Office offers perspective: Michigan has more square miles of rivers than the states of New Jersey, Connecticut, and the combined miles of Delaware and Rhode Island. MSU scientists also offer this observation: What we do on our land does not just affect us. It also affects those downstream in our watershed as well as those who are in the surrounding watersheds. What we do eventually has an impact on one of the Great Lakes.
Contributor Bob Gwidz offers this observation: We’ll celebrate just about anything with a festival in Michigan. And he quickly adds, “No festival in Michigan that is more longstanding or more apropos to our state than the National Trout Festival in Kalkaska. … A five-day event that celebrates what we have here that separates us from our neighbors to the south — trout.”
Each page of the Michigan BLUE offers a reveal of spring, like the season itself. And Gwidz was right, take your pick of festivals and events from Excursions and begin a personal journey.
Carole Valade, Editor, Michigan BLUE Magazine
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