Northport Photo Exhibit Photographers 2025
Robert Bayer
I became interested in photography after receiving a "Spy" attache case with a hidden built in camera when I was a child. In the early ‘90s I got hooked again while scuba diving in Cozumel after watching our dive guide glide through the water capturing images of the undersea world. In the early 2000's, I mentioned to a co-worker that I was into underwater photography. He then convinced me to join a local camera club which held monthly meetings and competitions.
Having some of the best photographers in the Grand Rapids area available to me through the camera club, I picked their brains and improved my photography skills greatly. Eventually, some of them
started sharing their "Secret" photography spots or would notify me when a hard to find animal was in the area.
It was through the camera club that I was invited to photograph the athletes in numerous sports for the State Games of Michigan in both the Summer Games and the Winter Games. From my images of the State Games, I was referred to the West Michigan Sports Commission where I was invited to photograph the Meijer LPGA Classic, EPSN X-Games Mastercraft Throwdown, USA Masters track & Field, the first High School Gridiron Classic event and the Michigan High School Gymnastics Finals.
Since moving to Northport in 2016, I’ve done photography for the Northport Performing Arts Center and the Northport Arts Association events as well as local high school sports. In 2021, I had an entry in Art prize, and I currently have two of my images hanging at the new wing of the McLaren Hospital in Petoskey.
Mike Haynes
Mike is a Northport resident and a self-taught photographer. He is a contributing photographer for Pixabay, Pexels, and iStock by Getty Images. Mike also dabbles in writing, painting, and rock art.
Mike uses photography to tell stories and to help others see the world in different ways. Mike’s goal is to demonstrate that even the simplest objects in front of a lens can stimulate curiosity and evoke emotion.
The works on display represent Mike’s attempt to use balance, rhythm and overall composition in order to trigger a response from viewers.
Marilyn Hoogstraten
Photography began as a hobby for me, photographing my young daughters, their friends, their activities, and the landscape around me. I bought used darkroom equipment and spent hours printing my parents' old negatives. When my daughter’s best friend said, “But you are going to photograph my wedding, aren’t you?” I bought a digital camera and took a workshop. I loved wedding photography, and when I had an opportunity to retire from my “real” job, I started an “encore career” in photography. I found over the years, even in wedding photography, that it was capturing the details, the essence of a place, or the emotion of a person, that I enjoyed most. Now I shoot for myself, celebrating the shape, the form, the design of the space around me, and collecting through photography things that delight me.
Image: Reflections of the Ottaway
Don Spezia
Influenced by the elements of nature...
I have been interested in photography, since acquiring my first 35mm camera. Photographs usually include nature, wildlife, architecture, moments in time, motion, and landscapes. My favorite photographs are outdoors, influenced by the elements of nature. A photograph of something unplanned will will find me, instead of me finding a photograph of something I was hoping to capture.
I shoot 35mm digital with a Canon 90D, a number of lenses; and an occasional iPhone 8 photograph. I had been a member of the West Shore Camera Club (Muskegon, MI), from 2003 to 2010. I served on the Board as Secretary/Newsletter Editor most of those years.
I have had photographs accepted for showing at various juried Art Exhibits, including a Purchase award at the Muskegon Museum of Art, and various Honorable Mentions at a number of exhibits. Among the latest are an Honorable Mention for “Abstract Matters” category at 311 Gallery in Raleigh, NC, and an Honorable Mention for the 2023 Plein Air Photo Shoot for the Northport Arts Association (NAA), and an Honorable Mention at the 2024 NAA Photo Contest. I have had a photograph accepted for publication in the Walloon Writers Review 9th Edition, slated for publication in 2025.
I have worked as an Architect as my career and retired in 2017. Other activities include playing and writing original guitar instrumentals. My photography has been used in the CD case design in all of my 9 different music CD's. More information can be found on my website:
Rachel Winslow
Rachel Winslow is an innkeeper, light artist, and self taught experimental photographer living in Leland, MI. Her work focuses on the use of homemade, vintage, and toy cameras to make photographs that are abstract and dreamlike. She has taught countless film photography workshops through the years and her musician portraiture has been featured on national platforms such as Pitchfork, NPR, and more. She's been shooting film for 16 years and is constantly exploring new & unconventional ways to photograph using experimental methods.