amazing!

Detroit is shining brightly

Posted on October 23, 2025October 23, 2025 by farlane

Detroit Shining Brightly by Chris Ahern Photography

Hudson and Gordie Howe Bridge with new lighting by Chris Ahern Photography

Chris shared a perfect photo for a roundup of recent Detroit news saying: “Both projects broke ground in 2020. The Hudson’s site is now Detroit’s second tallest building, while the Gordie Howe Bridge is the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America. Also lit up is the Ambassador Bridge which recently reached its 100 year anniversary.” (the Ambassador is in the foreground with the string of lights).

For starters, the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit to Windsor announced that the planned Fall 2025 opening has been delayed to 2026. WDIV Detroit writes:

While 98% of the $5.7 billion project is complete, bridge officials say the remaining work is forcing the delay from the previously announced fall 2025 opening … The final phase focuses heavily on testing the bridge’s technological systems.

…A report from S&P Global Ratings indicated that contractors had missed previous deadlines for transferring border facilities to authorities, though bridge officials would not specifically comment on this.

Detroit has definitely been on the come up in recent years, but it is still notable that 13 years after a poll showed two-thirds of Detroiters felt the city was moving in the wrong direction, a new survey found a dramatic, 180-degree turnaround with 76% feeling the city is headed in the right direction with 11% disagreeing & 13% having no opinion. Among that 11% is Livonia resident & leader of the Detroit News editorial page Nolan Finley, who ruffled more than a few feathers when he suggested that Detroiters are deluded to express contentment.

If you tuned in to Monday Night Football to see the Lions whomp on the Buccaneers, you saw the spectacular drone footage of Detroit taken by Chris. I can’t find it all, but you can see some drone video of the Hudson on his Instagram & also of the Detroit Riverfront on the opening of the Monday Night Football highlights. For sure follow Chris Ahern Photography on Facebook and view and purchase his work & drone photography services on his website!

Ford Field from Above by Chris Ahern Photography

Comet of Unknown Origin

Posted on September 24, 2025 by farlane

Northern Lights and Comet Neowise by Gary Syrba

Our friends at EarthSky share that the latest observations of Comet 3I/ATLAS show it brightening more quickly than predicted:

Up until now, the interstellar comet had been brightening as expected. But now, the observations from mid-September 2025 are beginning to rise above the upward-sloping line of brightening that would have been typical for a comet nearing the sun.

(There has been a lot of talk that 3I/ATLAS might be an interstellar probe due to its great speed & a trajectory that takes it close to Jupiter, Mars & Earth before it slingshots away using the Sun’s gravitation.)

A team of scientists, led by Xabier Pérez-Couto of the University of A Coruña in Spain, has traced the path of interstellar object 3I/ATLAS back 10 million years. Indeed, this is only the 3rd-known object found traveling in our solar system that didn’t originate with our sun and its planets. Its trajectory tells us it must have come from another star system, but which one?

They traced the path back over 100 million astronomical units (9.3 quadrillion miles) but couldn’t find where it started towards Sol. You can read on for lots more!

Gary took these photos of the Northern Lights & Comet Neowise over Lake Michigan back in 2020. See more in his Night Skies gallery on Flickr and view & purchase Gary’s work on his website.

7 Wonders of Michigan: Chapel Rock edition

Posted on September 8, 2025 by farlane

Chapel Rock by Craig Sterken Photography

Michigan has some truly incredible sights, but I have to think that Chapel Rock in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore belongs at or near the top of any list of the 7 Wonders of Michigan. Apparently I started to compile a list back in 2015 & added Mackinac Island’s Arch Rock to it. Let’s add Chapel Rock as well. If you have suggestions for the list, share in the comments and then we can vote on them all!

The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore says:

The Chapel area was named by early European explorers and is found on early maps as La Chappelle. Chapel Rock is a remnant of Cambrian age sandstone that was carved by Lake Nipissing high water some 3800 years ago. Continual erosion has carved the rock into the beautiful sculpture it is today. There once was an archway connecting the rock to the mainland (see pic below!). The arch collapsed in the 1940s. The lone white pine on Chapel Rock is estimated to be about 250 years old.

Atlas Obscura adds that a member of the Douglass Houghton expedition exploring Lake Superior’s southern shore described a single pine tree that grew like a “spire” out of the sparse dirt covering the top of the outcropping. Till this day, the same resilient pine stands sentinel over Chapel Rock, connected to the mainland by its extensive root system.

Craig shares that the cool weather has him thinking about autumn colors, and that he was honored to have this photo purchased by National Geographic for a book on national parks! I will for sure share the book when it’s out. You don’t have to wait to see more from Craig though! Follow Craig Serken Photography on Facebook and view or purchase his work on his website!

Chapel Arch by Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Starry Night at Frankfort Light

Posted on September 2, 2025September 2, 2025 by farlane

Starry Night at Frankfort Lighthouse by Watermark Photography

“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night”

-Vincent Van Gogh

Such a gorgeous shot of the Frankfort Lighthouse! Head over to Jeff’s A Little Night Music gallery on Smugmug to view & purchase this and other work & also follow Watermark Photography on Facebook.

PS: You can help protect this light through the Frankfort Lighthouse Restoration Project!

Dawn Amidst the Fog

Posted on August 14, 2025 by farlane

Dawn Amidst the Fog by Eric Hackney

An absolutely stunning shot of the Portage Lake Lift Bridge that links to the cities of Houghton & Hancock on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

See more in his Landmarks & Landscapes gallery on Flickr and for sure view & purchase his work at erichackneyphotography.com.

Double Rainbow over Munising Bay

Posted on July 17, 2025July 17, 2025 by farlane

Double Rainbow over Munising Bay by Michigan Nut Photography

The unrelenting flooding across Michigan and the country has a lot of us looking for the rainbow, and thankfully Michigan Nut found two for us! The National Weather Service shares how double rainbows are formed:

Sometimes we see two rainbows at once. Not all of the energy of the ray escapes the raindrop after it is reflected once. A part of the ray is reflected again, and travels along a different path inside the drop to emerge from the drop at a different angle. The rainbow we normally see is called the primary rainbow and is produced from one internal reflection. The secondary rainbow arises from two internal reflections and the rays exit the drop the second time at an angle of around 50 degrees, rather than the 42 degrees for the primary rainbow. This effect produces the secondary rainbow, with the colors reversed from the primary rainbow. It is possible for light to be reflected more than twice within a raindrop, but these additional rainbows are typically never seen under normal circumstances.

Atmospheric Optics (the OG rainbow site) adds that secondary rainbows appear broader than the primary rainbow, measuring approximately 1.8 times its width so the top rainbow is the copy!

John shared this photo of a doble rainbow over Lake Superior’s Munising Bay on his Facebook. For sure follow him there and view & purchase his work at michigannutphotography.com.

Canada brings the smoke to Michigan

Posted on June 5, 2025June 5, 2025 by farlane

Canadian Wildfire Smoke by Mackinac Bridge Authority

“Unfortunately, what you’re seeing today is not fog surrounding the Mackinac Bridge but smoke coming from the wildfires and our neighbors to the North.” -The Mackinac Bridge on X (which I won’t link to)

Yesterday morning the Mackinac Bridge Cam captured smoke so dense that it looked like the bridge was shrouded in fog! There’s less today but it’s still an astonishing amount of smoke so be sure to keep an eye on your local air quality because as the map shows, it’s not great right now!

Rainbow wow: Anti-crepuscular rays & rainbow!

Posted on June 2, 2025June 2, 2025 by farlane

Rainbowwow by Jamie A. MacDonald

June is Pride Month, which means that a lot of people are getting mad about rainbows right now. As a wholehearted supporter of the right for people to love, marry & be who they choose to be, that seems really silly but I guess that’s where we are.

I’m sharing these photos because Michigan in Pictures wholeheartedly supports the rights of people to love & marry who they choose, but also because a whole month of rainbows gives me a chance to post about how cool rainbows are starting with this shot of a rainbow with anti-crepuscular rays that Jamie took!

Anti-Crepuscular Rays and Rainbow by Jamie A. MacDonald

My go-to rainbow resource for years has been Atmospheric Optics, and they explain that wile crepuscular rays appear to converge on the sun, anticrepuscular or antisolar rays converge in the opposite direction and you must have your back to the sun or sunset point to see them:

They appear to converge towards the antisolar point, the point on the sky sphere directly opposite the sun. Like crepuscular rays they are parallel shafts of sunlight from holes in the clouds and their apparently odd directions are a perspective effect. Think of a long straight road, it converges towards the horizon but turn around and it also converges to the opposite horizon. Crepuscular and anticrepuscular rays behave in the same way. Anticrepuscular rays are not rare but they must be sought carefully. When ordinary crepuscular rays are visible, turn around and search for their opposite numbers.

Jamie has a lot of great shots in his Stormy Weather gallery on Flickr. You can follow him on Instagram and see his portfolio and learn more about Jamie right here!

More rainbows on Michigan in Pictures!

Big questions about Giant sequoia

Posted on April 28, 2025April 28, 2025 by farlane

Sequoia Redwood Tree by Charles Bonham

My post last week about the planting of Giant sequoia trees in Detroit by Archangel Ancient Tree Archive & Arboretum Detroit got a lot of commentary. While it was generally positive, a common theme of criticism was that we shouldn’t plant things in places where they aren’t native because they don’t belong or can’t survive. On the “can’t survive” front, I give you the 116+ foot tall Lake Bluff Arboretum Giant sequoia tree in Manistee that was planted in 1949.

And while I agree that planting non-native trees is generally a bad idea, the second paragraph of the Bridge Detroit article I linked to explains that it is the environmentally responsible thing to do to allow these forest titans to survive into the future: “The project on four lots will not only replace long-standing blight with majestic trees, but could also improve air quality and help preserve the trees that are native to California’s Sierra Nevada, where they are threatened by ever-hotter wildfires.“

And even if clicking a link is two hard, the 2nd of the two paragraphs I chose for the excerpt reads Giant sequoias are resilient against disease and insects, and are usually well-adapted to fire. Thick bark protects their trunks and their canopies tend to be too high for flames to reach. But climate change is making the big trees more vulnerable to wildfires out West, Kemp said. “The fires are getting so hot that its even threatening them,” he said.

You simply gotta read folks. At least if you want to make intelligent critiques.

I had shared a photo of the Giant sequoia in Manistee that Charles took in ~~2002~~ 2022, but I decided to go back to see what else he had. Lots!! Check them out below and see lots more in his Trees gallery on Flickr.

Frozen Flight: Lake Michigan Ice

Posted on February 19, 2025February 19, 2025 by farlane

Above Lake Michigan by Bill Dolak

With full honor & respect to the absolutely brutal temps across Michigan this morning, here are some sweet photos from a series that Bill took on February 1st at Fennville’s Pier Cove Park. There’s even a shot of a sundog in one of the photos!

See more in his Droneography – Autel EVO Lite+ gallery on Flickr!