Michigan in Pictures

lightning rods, photo by dbthayer.

This photo of a Monroe County barn is part of a set of barn photos.

Some of them are in Ohio, but if necessary, we could always take them back in a second Ohio-Michigan War.

RenCen, photo by DetroitBikeBlog.

DetroitBikeBlog says: This weekend I pulled my broken old Sony Camera apart and then carefully put it back together again. Amazingly this cured the C13 fault that’s had it on a shelf for 2 years. So I went out to today to try a few shots with its toy-camera fisheye! This is the east aspect of the RenCen, I’ve always been taken by the colors along here.

Gotta see it bigger … or on black … or bigger on black.

Lighthouse ruins at Cheboygan State Park, MI, taken with Argus C3 by Mark O’Brien

It’s apparently O’Brien week here on Michigan in Pictures. Yesterday we had a photo from Marjorie and then I received an unrelated email from her dad. He was passing along a request from Bob and Mary Kay Berg of Palindrome Productions:

Our production company, Palindrome Productions, is working on a short film about the Argus Camera Company, originally based in Ann Arbor, MI. To supplement our video footage, we are currently looking for still photos taken by Argus cameras models from 1936 to 1960.

If you have family photos (everyday events, family vacations, recitals, holidays) or photos of Ann Arbor, please contact us no later than Friday, April 13, 2007 at palindromevideo@aol.com.

I’ve never been one to look a gift blog post in the mouth, so without further delay - and with copious thanks to Mark for the links - I bring you:

About the Argus Camera Company of Ann Arbor, Michigan

Wikipedia’s very much incomplete entry on the Argus Camera Company says:

Argus is an American maker of cameras and photographic products, founded in 1936 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Argus originated as a subsidiary of the International Radio Corporation (IRC), founded by Charles Verschoor. Its best-known product was the C3 rangefinder camera, which enjoyed a 27-year production run and became one of the top-selling cameras in history. The company’s Model A was the first low-cost 35 mm camera in the United States.

The link above for the Argus C3 (aka “The Brick”) is much more complete and says the simple design and ready availability of the C3 makes it widely used even today. While that entry says the C3 was responsible for establishing 35mm, Stephen Gandy of CameraQuest hands that title to the first camera Argus made - the Argus A, declaring:

In MY always not so objective mind at least, the Argus A is undoubtedly the 2nd most important 35mm camera of all time– second only to the Leica A. If you think about it, that’s a pretty amazing legacy for a simple little Bakelite camera from a Michigan USA radio factory. It really is.

How does Argus deserve this impressive ranking? Easy, they bribed me. Unfortunately, not with money. Argus paid me off in Photographic Heritage. Building on the astounding sellout success of the Argus A, Argus sold MILLIONS of Argi, thereby establishing 35mm as the serious Amateur’s film format of choice in the largest photography market in the world, America.

If you are interested in repairing, collecting or just learning more about any of the Argus camera models and their accessories, look no further than the Argus Collectors Group. You can get a quicker overview of the Argus line over at Mark’s Argus Cameras Page. Mark also took visit to the Argus Museum located at the old Argus Factory in Ann Arbor and (go figure) he took some photos.

There are a TON of very cool Argus camera advertisements (I learned that Galileo was a 17th century Argus and am definitely going to get an Argus A to take to the next World’s Fair), some detail shots of the cameras on his projects page and the results of a Spring Fever Argus photo contest over at Alexander Rawles argoflex.com. Speaking of photos , you can see some shots of the camera and from the cameras in the Argus Rangefinders Group on Flickr.

You might also want to check the local bookstore for a copy of Argomania: A Look At Argus Cameras And The Company That Made Them by Henry Gambino. The promotional copy explains:

Argus’ founder, Charles Verschoor, did not establish an empire, as did George Eastman. Nor did he enjoy a particularly long tenure as the head of the company he founded. Unlike Oscar Barnack, he did not invent anything particularly new, yet he had a tremendous impact on the photographic industry. He revolutionized the scope of the industry, not only from a technical standpoint, but even more so from a marketing perspective.

Additional photo credits:

Argus C3 by Luke H

Argus SS Notches by ReyGuy (part of a great set of detail shots of Argus cameras)

End of the gumshoe’s day by Olivander

Mason County Courthouse, Ludington, MI, photo by I am Jacques Strappe.

Michpics regulars may remember Marjorie O’Brien from her profile last year.

Given her passion for architecture and wandering the state of Michigan, it should come as little surprise that she has developed the Michigan Architecture Blog where she photographs and discusses everything from the red sandstone of Marquette to the fantastic details of the UM Law Quad.

Be sure to check out the above photo bigger!

Untitled, photo by emjsmith.

So I’m just going to blog a quick spring training photo from emjsmith today…

…and then an hour later, there I was, happily dizzy in a pile of baseball pics. I though about an amazing action shot, an even more amazing action shot, 103.3 MPH tuning up or even a shot of Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland. I finally settled on this one of Craig Monroe fiving the faithful because (for me at least) this is what spring training is all about: ballplayers warming up for the season and having enough time to pay a little attention to those who pay so much attention to them. If you have some time, check out her great slideshow of Detroit Tiger Spring Training photos.

Em shoots the Class A Midwest League for MLB, so be sure to tune in during the season. You can see more of her baseball pics at her blog and other work at Emily Smith Photography.

Opening day is Monday, April 2nd (details at Absolute Michigan)

Truck 17 In front of Old Central, photo by Stoney06.

Joel Dinda knows old photos, so it’s not at all surprising that he found this great collection of historical photos from Brian Stone of the fire stations, fire trucks and the men of the Kalamazoo.

An added plus are his informative captions such as the one for the above: Old Central Station Kalamazoo Michigan. Truck is a 1936 Seagrave City Service Ladder. “Pride of the Department”.

Indeed. View the photo large and you can see that’s true.

Dead River Fog, photo by bgreenlee.

Brad took this photo at Dead River Basin, north of his hometown of Ishpeming, Michigan.

I saw this photo several days ago and was struck by its richness. For me - maybe for anyone who has ever stood next to a glass calm and still Michigan lake on a late summer morning - this picture holds an armload of images. The way the shore floats in and out of focus in the slowly moving mist … the haunting call of a loon … the splash of fat trout. All of this and so much more.

Further to the north - too far to walk in a day but not all that far - are the Yellow Dog Plains, one of the fronts in a battle that if lost, would change this image of Michigan forever.

The Yellow Dog is not the only front though. Consider White River, where Michigan’s water is poured out to the rest of the world, never to return. Or all the inland lakes where exotic zebra mussels have poured in, sterilizing them of other life. And countless other places and ways that our rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, wells and wetlands face the pressure that comes where a resource is not valued.

This is probably the point where right around 50% of brains will want to shut off and wander off, thinking “Here comes another environmentalist rant.” While I am a huge fan of the environment (which I like to think of as my life support system) this isn’t about politics.

This is about money.

Tourism is Michigan’s second largest industry. Unlike extractive industries like acid mining or water bottling that send most of the revenue away from Michigan, tourism sends income rushing through our local economies, generating business profits (and tax revenues) along with many jobs in hotels, motels, B&Bs and cabins, restaurants, shops, outfitters, galleries, musicians and countless other industries. Economists talk about “the multiplier effect”, describing how one dollar pays for a room for the night, then morning coffee, afternoon canoe rental, evening dinner and fifty more things before it moves along.

That dollar has a future from the moment it is laid on the counter. The other dollar doesn’t.

This is not only about money though.

I have chosen to make my lifelong home in Michigan for the same very simple reason that I made this web site: I am hopelessly in love with the beauty of Michigan. From the towering face of the Pictured Rocks to the corn stalk stubbles in the next field, I am head over heels for Sweet Mama Michigan and I cannot bear to see her carved up and sold off.

Even in our hour of need, I hope we can all agree that it is precisely this beauty, this richness of water and wild that is among Michigan’s greatest treasures.

It’s in that hope (and also for pay) that I worked with others to make a challenge to all of you: Make a short video that tells why we should protect Michigan’s water.

We call it the Save the Wild UP Video Challenge and I invite you to learn more about it.

PS: Apologies to Brad for tacking all on this on to what could have been a simple post of a great photo.

PPS: Those of you who are Flickrites might want to check out the Save the Wild UP Challenge group.

PPPS: Apologies also for any over-preachyness. I promise to try and keep it to a minimum.

Lake Sixteen Lifesaver, photo by Arace.

Let’s close the door on winter with this HDR photo of the sunset over Lake Sixteen (Orion, MI) by Chris Arace. Chris recommends that you view large.

If you like this, you might enjoy his HDR set.

Provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE (via Wikimedia)

I am not even going to tell you how long I agonized over the perfect photo with which to mark World Water Day. Water is one of the things that defines Michigan above all others. Industries may come and go, but (assuming we can take care of it) Michigan’s water is forever.

Here’s hoping…

stacking the river raisin, photo by postpurchase.

The photographer says this is an experiment stacking multiple frames of short exposure taken in daylight in order to emulate a longer exposure without the use of filters. (from Manchester, MI)