May's Artist of the Month, Joe Diehl

I had the good fortune of meeting this month's artist of the month, Joe Diehl, while we both watched our respective 5 year olds hone their dance techniques during a ballet class.  Amidst a sea of Lululemon clad dance moms, it was a real treat to meet an outdoors loving, Army veteran, bear of a man with a great sense of humor with whom I could share fishing and hunting tales.  Little did I know that, in his spare time, Joe shot amazing photos of the spectacular scenery he stumbled upon during his adventures in northern Michigan and points beyond.

Joe's work represents a stunning mix of landscape, flora and fauna, and personal moments that truly capture the essence of why so many are passionate about northern Michigan.  The front page of our website, www.homewaters.net, features just a few shots from Joe's portfolio but his website, www.joediehlphotography.com, is packed with images that will remind just about anyone how special our region truly is.  Next time you have a few spare minutes, scroll through the images.  It will likely inspire you, like it did me, to spend more time exploring new places, wandering outside your normal routes and maybe trying your own hand and capturing those sights you see with your own camera lens.

If you find yourself at The Dance Arts Academy in Traverse City on Wednesday evenings, say Hi to Joe, he's the one with the broad shoulders and shaved head.  You won't miss him...

Introducing March's Featured Artist of the Month, Joey B. Lax-Salinas

We're excited to feature Joey B. Lax-Salinas as our featured artist for March.  His work is now up on the front page of www.homewaters.net.  We were drawn toward his work during our own search for images to use to promote our Downtown Traverse City effort.  His work really captured the energy of downtown and the surrounding areas.  you can view and purchaser more of his Traverse Area Photos at www.traversecityphotos.com.  Here is some background from his website.

"I’m a traveling photographer born and raised in Northwest Indiana who fell in love with Traverse City and it’s surrounding areas after photographing thousands of photos in and around the Traverse City area.

I first traveled to Traverse City not all that long ago. In the summer of 2012, I took a road trip around Lake Michigan, starting in my home area of Northwest Indiana and driving east and north through Grand Rapids and up to Traverse City. Traverse City was the first stop and I stayed for two nights, enjoying the downtown area on Front Street, a drive through the towns on the Leelanau County Peninsula, and exploring and hiking at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. With my time in Traverse City limited to just under two days, I was able to get a well-balanced first experience of the city and enjoyed a nice dinner at Amical downtown on Front Street. After loading up with BBQ sauce from Cherry Republic, Oils and Vinegars from Fustini’s, and teas from Spice Merchants, I headed out of town to continue my trip. Later in 2012, I would make another over night stop in late October to see a much more quiet and subdued Traverse City in late fall.

In 2013, a trip was planned to go to Traverse City during the Cherry Festival, capturing action from the city’s biggest summer festival. I returned in August to see the very beginnings of the leaves change and also took an aerial tour of Traverse City and the north Grand Traverse County area capturing a couple hundred photos in the air above front street and the Grand Traverse Bay.

Traverse City Photographer for Commercial Licensing

After taking several trips to Traverse City and posting many Traverse City and Leelanau County photos on my primary photography website JoeyBLS Photography, business people in the Traverse City area began to contact me about licensing my digital photos for commercial use. That gave me the idea to create a single location for people to browse through photos to find photos that they could use for their website or business marketing materials, such as catalogs, flyers, brochures, business cards, posters, email templates and more.

Since I live in Northwest Indiana, I only get up to Traverse City a couple of times a year, but each time I do, I look for more places and more photos to capture and add into the gallery. My goal is to capture all the aspects of life in Traverse City and to be the Traverse City photographer to go to when it comes to licensing photos for commercial use, so I hope to return in the winter months for some snow photos so be sure to check back often. In the meantime, follow me onFacebook, Twitter, Google+, Flickr, and Instagram."

Thanks so much for participating, Joey!  Your work looks terrific on the front page of the site.

Introducing Shane Wyatt, Homewaters' featured artist of the month

Local resident, Shane Wyatt is our featured artist of the month for February 2015!  A Native Traverse Citian, Shane lives in TC and specializes in finding and capturing unique Scenic and Landscape photography in and around northern Michigan. His photos are available as traditional fine art prints or on artist canvas. Images can be found (and Liked!) on Facebook as Focused on Northern Michigan https://www.facebook.com/FocusedOnNorthernMichigan

Thanks so much for participating, Shane!!  Your work has me motivated to get out on a hike to enjoy just how spectacular the scenery is during our northern Michigan winters!

If you or anyone you know is a passionate photographer or painter and would like to participate in the program, send an e-mail to info@homewaters.net and we'll get them on the list of artists.  It's so great to see the beauty of northern Michigan from so many different perspectives.

Meet Homewaters Artist of the Month, Lydia Morrison

One of my favorite aspects of living in northern Michigan is the truly remarkable number of incredibly talented, creative people who choose to call this place home.  It seems I meet someone at every turn that just happens to be an accomplished artist, musician, photographer or author.  With that in mind we've decided to dedicate the images on the front page of our website, www.homewaters.net, to a different featured artist each month.  Some of these will be professional artists or photographers while others are simply individuals passionate about the area who have.

Sales Associate Blake Bernard reached out to his friend, Lydia Morrison, knowing she was a passionate photographer and we're fortunate to have her as our first ever featured artist.  As you scroll through the images on the front page of our site, you'll get a chance to see some of her work that features scenes and points of interest from throughout the area.  If you'd like to see more of her work and follow her travels, you can "like" her facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LydiaMorrisonPhoto/photos_stream

Thanks so much, Lydia, for allowing us to display your work! 

If you or anyone you know has work they'd like to display, have them reach out to us at info@homewaters.net and we'll work to get their work up too.