Located in western Michigan on the coast of Lake Michigan is the city of Holland. It was founded in the 1800s by Dutch colonists, who brought with them a love of their homeland and the desire to keep their traditions alive. Ever since 1930, the city has hosted a Tulip Festival each May, drawing nearly a million tourists a year. Although I’m normally not inclined to join the tourists in any given location, choosing instead to try to get off the beaten path, in Holland the real draw is the six million tulips planted throughout the city along city streets, outside municipal buildings, and in huge gardens complete with windmills.

I visited the town before the tulip festival began and was able to move freely through the tulip gardens without getting tourists in my shots. The day was sunny and the myriad colors of the tulips were lovely as they swayed in the breeze. I captured shot after shot of stunning fields of  every hue imaginable.

As the day went on, I moved to the shoreline where Holland meets Lake Michigan. The unspoiled beaches of this beautiful city are known to be among the world’s most beautiful, and nature provided me with the perfect weather to shoot the sunset. Serendipitously a single sailboat came into my shot and moved across the horizon, helping to create a scene that sends chills down the back with its beauty.