Pure Michigan Instagram Beach Challenge

The Beginning of an Amazing Sunset, photo by oni_one_

With over 3,000 miles of Great Lakes coastline and countless inland lake beaches, Michigan could well be called The Beach State. Starting tomorrow, the folks at Pure Michigan will seek to make that case on social media with the 10-day Pure Michigan Instagram Challenge.

The goal is to showcase the variety of beaches in Michigan and activities you can enjoy there. Each day of the contest features a different topic for your Instagram or Twitter photo:

• June 20 – Favorite Beach to Catch a Sunrise or Sunset
• June 21 – Favorite Dog-Friendly Beach
• June 22 – Favorite State Park Beach
• June 23 – Favorite Beach to Fly a Kite
• June 24 – Favorite Beach for Watersports
• June 25 – Favorite Beach for Fishing from the Shore or Dock
• June 26 – Favorite Beach to Experience Clear Waters
• June 27 – Favorite Beach to Take a Long Walk
• June 28 – Favorite Beach to Hang Out with Family and Friends
• June 29 – Favorite Beach to Watch Fireworks

Head over to the Michigan Beach Challenge website for more info about how to enter and tag your photos and to see photos once the contest gets rolling. Feel free anytime to share your photos at #michpics too!

View Sarah’s photo from Miners Beach in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore bigger and see more on her Instagram page. If you scroll down there’s more from her road trip to the Pictured Rocks!

Lots more Michigan beaches on Michigan in Pictures.

Michigan in Pictures is a blog, folks

Polar Vortex Cabin Fever, photo by lauraherd

A few readers shared Thursday that they’d rather I check my politics at the door and stick to the Michigan photo posting. 6 even unsubscribed, but since 8 more subscribed I guess it’s a wash.

I’ve run a lot of blogs and similar online projects, and I’ve seen what happens when they become places for people to fight about things. That’s not going to happen on Michigan in Pictures, and I want to make a couple of things clear, just so there’s no surprises.

1. And this is #1 for a reason. I love Michigan. Love love love it. I’ve worked really hard on this site for 8 years for no financial gain, sharing and promoting and discovering Michigan. What I do gain is the satisfaction of learning more and seeing more of my state. My love of Michigan extends to a commitment to the preservation of Michigan’s water and environment, which I believe is critical to our state’s long-term economic health. I can’t and won’t separate this, so you’re going to have to deal with the occasional post about my thoughts on these matters.
2. And this is really part 2 of #1: I love YOU. You follow Michigan in Pictures because you love Michigan and love learning about the same weird, fun, beautiful things that I do. You also appreciate the talented photographers who share pieces of the glorious whole of the Great Lakes State in the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  Thank you for your support of my efforts and your support of all the photographers who trust their work to me.
3. This is my personal blog. I’m glad that so many people enjoy it, and I try go out of my way to confront people. That said, I don’t do Michigan in Pictures for money, I do it for love and my own satisfaction. I find comments along the “Stick to posting pretty pictures of Michigan” insulting and offensive. I’ll be sticking to doing what I do, and if that’s a problem for you, there’s a big wide internet out there so please feel free to unsubscribe now.

Thanks, and have a wonderful weekend.

Laura let me post this photo she took of our cats, Monty & Acorn. It’s a personal favorite. Click to see it bigger on Instagram.

#michpics

Good Morning Brockway, photo by Jiqing Fan

Today’s post might win the 2013 Incomprehensible Garbledegook Award…

Almost all of the photos on Michigan in Pictures are those added to the Absolute Michigan pool on the excellent photo sharing site Flickr, with occasional photo posted to the Michigan in Pictures Facebook mixed in. While that’s very convenient for me, there’s a whole  lot of great photos on Twitter and Instagram too.

If you’re interested in sharing your photos and aren’t into Flickr, please feel free to use the “michpics” hash tag: #michpics on Twitter and #michpics on Instagram. If your photo is in some other place, you can tweet it with that hash tag.

Thanks everyone for sharing and I hope you get a chance to enjoy some of Michigan’s beauty this weekend!

Jiqing Fan took some amazing photos this fall. View his shot from Brockaway Mountain on the Keweenaw Peninsula bigger and see more in his slideshow. Past features of Jiqing Fan on Michigan in Pictures.

Division: The Movie seeking a little Kickstarter love

Location Scouting, photo by Division: The Movie

DIVISION is planned to be the first feature-length film entirely filtered through Instagram. The story is inspired by local folklore from Traverse City and the nearby Old Mission Peninsula and begins when a young man embarks on a journey to cure his girlfriend’s writer’s block. Chaos ensues, sending the couple into questioning what is real and what isn’t. The real truth, or at least part of it, has been recorded by the couple and their friends.

As for processing the entire film through the popular photo-sharing site Instagram, Producer Cat Muncey explains their motivation:

Back when the photo app rolled out video capabilities in June, I got the idea to do a feature through it. First, it was unconquered territory and hadn’t been done before. Second, I thought it would be an interesting way to present a character’s story. Most everything people share through social media is self-edited, so you only see what they want you to view. There’s more to everyone’s story than what they are willing to share, and I think the use of social media makes is a compelling element within a suspense movie.

There’s been a lot of interest in the film locally. We are featuring small businesses and their goods throughout the film and focusing on sourcing local talent. It’s been kind of neat running into people around town talking about the project or recognizing me from our Kickstarter or social media. We’ve also gotten some nice media coverage around town and even on digitaltrends.com.

Really, the biggest aim of this project was to create a community experience. We are still looking for additional extras and filling in the blanks with some locations and we would love to have additional support from local people. If anyone is interested, they can find out more at our Facebook page or contact me.

They have just 3 days left to raise $3000 and complete their Kickstarter goal. Head over to Kickstarter to learn more about the project, see their video appeal, learn more about the Instagram processing and help them out!

More Michigan movies on Michigan in Pictures.