Six degrees of Michigan photos
June 30, 2008
Lunchtime is Laker Time!, photo by mdprovost and American Victory, photo by smiles7
Last Wednesday, mdprovost captured this photo of the American Victory under the Blue Water Bridges between Port Huron, Michigan and Pte. Edward, Ontario. On Friday, smiles7 photographed the vessel as she passed through Sault St. Marie on the annual Engineer’s Day. And then they both added them to the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr – how cool is that??!!
No word as to whether or not Kevin Bacon was aboard.
The Higgins boats discharge their cargo. (IMG_1314), photo by bill.d.
From the Things I Wish I Had Known About in Advance files comes this fantastic set of photos of last weekend’s D-Day re-enactment in Benton Harbor and St. Joseph (slideshow). Bill uploaded them all nice and big so be sure to cruise through that slideshow link. Or even better, download PicLens, click the set link and enjoy. (trust me on the PicLens thing – coolest web software I’ve seen in quite some time).
The 2008 Saint Joseph and Benton Harbor WWII Reenactment Weekend took place last weekend and was sponsored by the veterans’ organization Lest We Forget of SW Michigan. It was designed to teach folks about WWII history, veterans, and the equipment utilized and featured reenactments of the battles at Normandy (D-Day) and Peleliu (Palaus archipelago in the Phillipines).
Because I can, here’s a link to an amazing reenactment of the landing at Omaha Beach.
Say Hey
June 27, 2008
Saginaw Michigan Waterfront, c1912, photo Courtesy Library of Congress.
Needs to be seen bigger.
This photo is part of the Panoramic Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress, which:
…contains approximately four thousand images featuring American cityscapes, landscapes, and group portraits. These panoramas offer an overview of the nation, its enterprises and its interests, with a focus on the start of the twentieth century when the panoramic photo format was at the height of its popularity. Subject strengths include: agricultural life; beauty contests; disasters; engineering work such as bridges, canals and dams; fairs and expositions; military and naval activities, especially during World War I; the oil industry; schools and college campuses, sports, and transportation… The images date from 1851 to 1991 and depict scenes in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. More than twenty foreign countries and a few U.S. territories are also represented. These panoramas average between twenty-eight inches and six feet in length, with an average width of ten inches.
If you click through and search for “Michigan” you can see a lot of cool panoramas like Camp Grayling, 1921, downtown Bay City and the workers of the Michigan Tanning and Extract Co. of Boyne City.
Check the comments below for a guide to what you’re looking at in the photo!
Bathing Beauties in Northern Michigan
June 25, 2008
Michigan Women Antique Northern MI Bathing Beauties Card Love It, photo by UpNorth Memories – Don Harrison.
I am sure that the publishers of this card intended the title to be slightly mocking.
When I saw it, however, I was struck by how much fun they appear to be having and how little they care about anything other than each other’s company and enjoying Michigan’s amazing watery fun.
Hope you get a chance to do some beautiful bathing of your own this summer, and also that you check out Don’s postcards (slideshow) because he posts them big and has hundreds and hundreds!
the city on the strait: detroit
June 24, 2008
72nd floor / 2008 fireworks, photo by g. s. george.
Geoff took this from the 72nd floor of the Renaissance Center during the Detroit River Days fireworks (formerly Detroit International Freedom Festival). He explains that we’re looking down onto the Detroit River, Hart Plaza and Jefferson Avenue. The entrance to the Detroit-Windsor tunnel is seen at the very bottom. In the distance, the Ambassador Bridge spans the Strait of Detroit. Windsor, Ontario Canada can be seen behind the fireworks at far left.
Geoff is obviously one of the many photographers who have a deep love for Michigan’s largest city. Introducing his the city on the strait: detroit set (slideshow) he writes:
a city without bounds, connected to the world and to its vast country by an aquamarine strait nestled between five of the world’s largest freshwater lakes. its capital, industry, and population developed so rapidly that it imploded under the pressure of social strife, and today Detroit stands as a living urban document of the capabilities–and failures–of the American people. But the city chugs along, and its million-odd residents continue to embrace the city’s many cultural and historical vestiges–those links to the past that may, one day, be used to revitalize and reignite the city’s vibrancy and industrial prowess. already signs of that reemergence have appeared, and its only a matter of time before these majestic structures, occupied and abandoned, end up as a pile of rubble or an icon.
Michigan in Pictures has some more Detroit Freedom Festival fireworks pics (from 2006).
Gladstone Michigan
June 23, 2008
Gladstone Michigan, photo by Sean Depuydt.
D300 and 30 seconds.
Sean appeared on Michigan in Pictures a while back with Zero Image Pinhole Camera: Bridge over Escanaba river.
Relighting the South Manitou Island Lighthouse
June 21, 2008
South Manitou Light, photo by dhoop.
Most nights I can see the red pulse of the North Manitou Shoal Light far out on the Manitou Passage (that stretch of Lake Michigan off the western shore of the Leelanau Peninsula).
Right now, a group of nonprofit & government organizations, businesses, historic engineers and private individuals are working to add another light to the passage. The effort is called “Relight the Light” and is funded in part by the National Park Centennial Initiative:
Lighting the South Manitou Island Lighthouse is a joint effort with three partners: Manitou Islands Memorial Society, Manitou Island Transit, and Electro-Optics Technology, Incorporated. The project will include purchasing and installing a replica third-order Fresnel lens, illuminating the lens with a low-wattage bulb using solar power as the energy source, and restoring the lantern room and stairwell.
As with many public projects these days, there’s a match component and organizers are seeking to raise funds to complete work currently underway on the lens by Artworks Florida.
For more information about the project and to view photos of the construction of the lens, visit South Manitou Island Lighthouse: Re-light the Light.
The South Manitou Island Lighthouse page from the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has more about the light and its history and (as always) Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light has a lot more. You can also see photos of the light and floorplans from the Library of Congress and here’s a South Manitou Island Light slideshow!
(lighthouse buffs might note a similarity between this tower and the tower of the Au Sable Point light)
Michigan Sunsets. Camp Rosenthal.
June 20, 2008
Michigan Sunsets. Camp Rosenthal., photo by vostok71.
Sergei says that he took this photo in 1995 (check it out bigger and also these other photos) when he was at Camp Rosenthal, operated by Chicago Youth Centers:
Located in Dowagiac, Michigan, Camp Rosenthal is one of only five remaining camps in the Midwest dedicated to the needs of low-income, at-risk children and offers a unique program designed to provide kids ages 8–15 with opportunities to become familiar with and appreciate the natural world and experience positive life-altering experiences…
At Camp Rosenthal, many children experience for the first time how spectacular a starry night is away from city lights, fall asleep and wake up where the only sounds come from nature, and learn to interact successfully with a diversity of new friends under the committed care and guidance of thoroughly trained youth workers.
I hope that we can work to foster similar experiences for kids in Michigan and elsewhere so nobody has to go through life without knowing what it’s like to sit on a dock and watch the day turn to night.
