The autumn season is hard to beat for photogenic opportunities and it is certainly one of my favorite times to photograph. I live in the upper midwest in the United States and I always try to schedule a several week long photo trip in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota each fall with my destination being wherever I have researched the colors to be best when I am on the road. The Upper Peninsula in Michigan is a favorite, reasonably close to where I live and typically has very predictable color.

On this trip I had brought along my drone which added another wonderful vantage point. This is a lake called the Bond Falls Flowage and while the main and usually crowded attraction here is a very popular waterfall, few folks bother to explore the lake that feeds the falls.

I had tried to find some compositions around the waterfall but was frustrated by all the people and as the afternoon was getting late and threatening rain, I decided to explore the lake from above. I was surprised at how many islands there were and an even nicer bonus was the occasional shaft of sunlight that would suddenly illuminate one of the islands. I would hover over the lake and watch for these sunshafts and then fly over to the island that looked like it was next in line to be lit up by the sun. All in all, a very satisfying end to the day’s work.