Headwaters

Through the Lens

More than 20 years after they published their first book, wildlife photographers Carl Sams and Jean Stoick zoom in on how they got started

By Julie Bonner Williams | Photography by Carl Sams

I t was the thing every writer and photographer fantasizes about: receiving phone calls from the two largest bookstore chains in the U.S., saying they want to sell your book. When that happened to photographerwriter Carl Sams, he said, “No, you can’t have it.” “Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy” was the first book Sams and his wife, Jean Stoick, published. Sams, who lives in Milford and spends time in Marquette and the Huron Mountains, says: “We printed 20,000 copies to start with. At the Art and Apples Festival in Rochester, this lady comes up to me in my booth (and) she (said she could) get Kiwanis to sell the book. (Kiwanis is an organization that helps kids around the world.) When Barnes & Noble and Borders called and wanted to carry the book, I said, ‘No, you can’t have it; I’m using it to make money for kids.’ ”

After hanging up, Sams realized what he’d done. “So I called back and said, ‘If you match the money for kids, I’ll let you carry it.’ And they did,” he says. Since then, “Stranger in the Woods,” first published in 1999, has sold more than 1.5 million copies and won more than 25 awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Award. It also became a national and New York Times bestseller.

Sams’ wildlife photography, which has made his name known in the literary and photography worlds, was a long time coming. “I grew up hunting and fishing in my teenage years. I always wanted to photograph, but I didn’t have a camera. There was a photography class in high school, but you had to have a camera and I couldn’t afford one. I took photos in my head,” he says.

The years passed by, and Sams earned a builder’s license and a real estate broker’s license. One day, after working in real estate for what he calls “a long time,” he walked out into a nearby field while at a model home and realized it was the perfect place to try getting wildlife photos. He says it was the moment that would turn his life in a long-awaited direction. “I … started photographing bobolinks. That’s when I knew I’d crossed over,” Sams says.

His long-awaited dream — becoming a wildlife photographer — is something to which he’s devoted. He frequently spends hours outdoors, often in frigid, Michiganwinter temperatures, awaiting the “perfect” shot. He has yet, however, to attain his personal holy grail of photographs: Getting a picture of a snowshoe rabbit, white animal on a white background. The closest he’s come so far, he says, was finding a group of the elusive creatures huddled under a car, where he wasn’t able to get the shots he hoped for.

Left to right: Carl and Jean Stoick are in front of the lens, for a change. A Sams photo that captures the breathtaking beauty of a pair of loons.

“(Another shot) I wanted to get was a deer eating the (carrot) nose off a snowman. I wanted to get that shot for the book. We had a snowstorm in March, and I thought, ‘This is probably going to be my last chance to get it this year.’ My friend and I were out there three and a half hours that day, (but I got what I wanted),” Sams says.

He explains that the secret to capturing wildlife photos is about always being ready and having the camera ready. His signature style also involves getting a great background. “I look for backgrounds, and then behavior,” he says.

SEE IT! Learn more about Carl Sams and Jean Stoick and their books by visiting strangerinthewoods.com.

The Simple Truth

Author Wade Rouse’s new work, “The Clover Girls,” showcases the Sleeping Bear Dunes and other area locales

By Patty LaNoue Stearns

Wade Rouse is as warm and genuine in real life as the charming characters in his novels. The 56-year-old native of Missouri is in love with Michigan, his adopted home since 2006, and the “throwback, old-school” knotty-pine-paneled cottage on seven acres near Lake Michigan in Fennville that he shares with his husband, Gary Edwards.

“I’ve written almost every one of my books from that cottage,” the author says. And even though he and Edwards winter in Palm Springs, Calif., he says no other state is as beautiful as Michigan in the summer. “Michigan resonates and reverberates in my soul,” the prolific writer proclaims. “The towns have such fascinating histories.”

It’s been a highly emotional time for Rouse. The COVID-19 pandemic took one of his dear friends, as well as his father-in-law. “That shook me to the core,” he says, explaining that it made him reevaluate his life, his priorities, and especially his connections with childhood friends — many of whom he’d lost touch with over the years. “They knew us when we were our true selves — our simple selves — and the simplest things in life mean the most.”

The past 12 months have also been exhilarating for Rouse, who recently signed a four-book deal with prestigious publisher Harper-Collins. Three of his novels are scheduled for release in 2021; the first, “The Clover Girls,” made its debut in May. Early reviews say it’s a novel “you will forever savor and treasure,” and it’s been called “Viola Shipman’s (the author’s pen name) most beautiful and most important novel.”

Rouse calls his book “a love story about friendship and a love story about Michigan, where four very different girls who become friends at summer camp in the 1980s lose touch, then reconnect, reunite, and reclaim themselves and their dreams.” The Clover Girls’ summer camp is outside Glen Arbor, and the novel prominently showcases the Sleeping Bear Dunes, Leland, and the historic log cabin that’s now the Cottage Book Store in Glen Arbor, of which Rouse — who grew up in libraries and bookstores — says: “If there’s one bookstore in America that screams ‘I’m Michigan,’ that’s it.” The book also takes readers on a scenic, sentimental ride across Michigan, and Rouse says “the four friends in the book are based on dear friends of mine.”

The Clover Girls is certain to inspire readers with its message about the true meaning of living — and loving. Simplicity, as Rouse reveals, is the answer.

READ IT! “The Clover Girls” is available everywhere books are sold. It’s been selected as a Summer Target Recommended Book and will be available in all Target stores from June 27-Aug. 28.

ABOUT VIOLA

No.1 international best-selling author, humorist, and writing teacher Wade Rouse has written 12 books, and his works have been translated into 20 languages. He uses the pen name Viola Shipman for his novels, honoring his grandmother, whose heirlooms and family stories often inspire his fiction. Writer’s Digest declared Rouse “The No. 2 Writer, Dead or Alive, We’d Like to Have Drinks With” — he’s sandwiched between Ernest Hemingway and Hunter Thompson. Rouse’s novels include “The Charm Bracelet,” a 2017 Michigan Notable Book of the Year; “The Hope Chest”; “The Recipe Box”; “The Summer Cottage,” the No.1 best-selling novel in Michigan in 2019; and “The Heirloom Garden.” He’s also written four well-received memoirs, and hosts the popular Facebook Live show, “Wine & Words with Wade, A Literary Happy Hour,” every Thursday at 6:30 p.m. EST on the Viola Shipman author page. For more information, visit violashipman.com and waderouse.com.

DESIGN CURRENTS

26

Meet metalsmith Christine Leader, and learn about her work inside this section.

26 Designers’ Notebook

State park art, Michigan artist textiles, virtual assistance for design, and fish-inspired tiles. 26 Studio Visit

A Charlevoix metalsmith crafts jewelry from her shoreline finds. 30 Design Stars

Meet three talented designers who know their way around outdoor entertaining. 36 The Elements

Adorn your cottage with

Great Lakes blues, nautical nuances, and inviting curb appeal.