In October 2025, I led two workshops back to back. The first one was for the North American Nature Photographer’s Association (NANPA). This was a relatively short workshop- just 2-1/2 days, but we packed in the excursions, hitting sixteen different spots from Friday morning until Sunday morning. Then for my own Images of Acadia workshop, I had a smaller group than normal, but the smaller size only made it easier to get to know each other well and I think this might have been the ‘tightest’ group I’ve ever had.

After ten days of photographing Autumn in Acadia (Maine), I was well primed for more color. I was supposed to do a shoot in Michigan in late October, but it was cancelled. I unexpectedly found myself with a couple days of ‘free time’ so I drove up to Illinois’ largest state park, Rock Cut, near Rockford and the Illinois/ Wisconsin border.

One of the best parts of my job is getting to see places and things that most people never get to experience, so hopping on a boat to photograph a tiny, remote island in the Atlantic Ocean sounded fantastic to me….