Up North Instagrams!
Some of the best scenic shots of our region are photographed by those who live here and document the everyday beauty right around them. Here’s a trio of great Up North lifestyle photogs to check out on Instagram.
EMILY ALT
@watassa
Empire
Spending half of the year in Grand Rapids, where she teaches, and the other half on the Leelanau Peninsula, Alt finds she appreciates northern Michigan’s beauty even more when she’s been away for a while. She and her husband, Ian Degraaf, are (“very slowly!”) renovating an old farmhouse on M-22, and to earn extra income, Alt does wedding photography, which often leads to shooting landscapes as well. “I don’t really think about it — I just shoot whenever I see beautiful things,” Alt said.
Where She Points Her Camera: “I actually try to shoot a lot of northern Michigan-themed scenes that are more unique than what you might typically see. I mean — of course we all love and appreciate our gorgeous sunsets! But I try to shoot more than just that, angles or subjects that are a little more unusual. My favorite places to shoot are all on the west side of the peninsula, between Empire and Northport, where we spend a lot of time hiking around North Bar Lake and on the Empire Bluff trail.”
PAUL RETHERFORD
@paulretherford
Petoskey
Paul Retherford starting shooting photos in seventh grade with his first Canon Rebel camera, focusing first on nature photography, which taught him about macro work and composition. “I did my earliest ‘work’ shooting photos for the seventh grade yearbook, which was a long time ago,” he laughed. Today, Retherford’s a busy professional photographer specializing in portraits of people and wedding photography (he’s shot over 600 weddings to date), but his eye is still frequently drawn to the scenic wonders of northern Michigan.
Where He Points His Camera: “We have such great beaches here, and I love the trails, especially the North Country Trail, which is awesome. Petoskey State Park is the best for sunsets. And in the winter, I like shooting at Petoskey’s Winter Sports Park. I shoot thousands upon thousands of images every year, and I’ve been doing this for 30 years, so a lot of it is instinctive. I do like pastel colors, linear lines, and nature, but I’ll generally just shoot anything I think is worthy of an image.”
ALEXA HUGHES
@alexahug
Traverse City
Alexa Hughes’ mother was a hobbyist photographer when Hughes was growing up, inspiring her to pick up a camera of her own. “I watched her to learn, and then took a few classes on my own when I was living in Chicago,” Hughes said. Today, she’s a mom herself (of three boys) and works as a copywriter at Hagerty. She didn’t get into photography seriously until 2008; now she shoots family and individual portraits and the occasional wedding, and drives around the region taking landscape shots, with a familiar central theme in mind.
Where She Points Her Camera: “I’m really drawn to the water here. It looks so different from season to season. And going from, say, Grand Traverse Bay to Elk Rapids, there’s so much variation in the color and the landscapes. I really like shooting in Elk Rapids in particular, as the water is more still there, so you get such cool reflections, and the sunsets are just beautiful!”
