BLIZZARD ON LAKE MICHIGAN, photo by Lara Salonen.
Yesterday when I was looking for photos from the Great Blizzard of 1978, I came across Lara’s photo. You can see it larger here and in her Michigan’s UP set (slideshow).
It’s a picture of the Menominee North Pier Lighthouse, and – as you can see at that link – it’s the second photo of that light of Lara’s I’ve blogged.
It never ceases to amaze me how changeable the Great Lakes are!
fading boundaries, photo by urban picasso studios
David suggests viewing this photo from Otsego County on black. I agree!
in the woods, photo by nicole st. john.
Nicole says that she found some old pictures that she never got around to uploading. See them larger in her slideshow.
Let’s pass on the discussion of bee-keeping for today and dream about that nice warm buzz of spring … something it seems that Mamma Michigan is doing this morning as well.
Enjoy your weekend, folks – maybe a nice museum today?
Abandoned Mill, Ripley, Michigan 1997, photo by Bill Schwab.
A number of years ago, I built a site for an excellent local photographer, Greg Seman. I remember him praising the work of Detroit photographer Bill Schwab.
It was a pretty cool feeling when I saw some lovely black & white photos roll into the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr and realized that they were Bill’s.
This photo is part of Bill’s Michigan set (slideshow), but don’t stop there…
A War Worth Waging – HFM, photo by MikeRyu
View it bigger on black and see more photos in Mike’s Henry Ford Museum set (slideshow).
Seeing this photo and realizing it’s been less than 100 years that women have enjoyed the right to vote made me think about how tirelessly they worked to secure the right to vote. Here’s a snapshot of women’s suffrage in Michigan courtesy the H-Net Chronology of Michigan Women’s History:
1849 A Senate committee, led by Senator Rix Robinson of Ada, proposes a universal suffrage amendment but it is not acted upon because of the “unusualness” and “needlessness” of the franchise for women.
1866 The state’s first bill on woman suffrage is defeated by one vote.
1867 The Michigan Legislature grants women taxpayers the right to vote for school trustees but rejects total woman suffrage.
1912 Governor Charles S. Osborn successfully urges the Michigan State Legislature to put the suffrage question before the all-male electorate in November. Clara B. Arthur of Detroit leads the campaign and the proposal appears to win. However, the opposition steals the election under suspicious circumstances.
1917 Governor Albert E. Sleeper signs a bill on May 8, granting Michigan women the right to vote in presidential elections.
1918 Michigan male voters approve a state constitutional amendment granting suffrage to Michigan women.
1919 Michigan women vote for statewide offices for the first time.
1920 The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting the vote to women, becomes law on August 26. Women vote for the first time in the presidential election on November 2.
It also made me wonder how something (each of our rights to vote) that has been bought and paid for time and again with far, far too much blood, sweat and tears can be treated with such disdain by many.
Your vote is your voice, please speak up today.
More about voting in Michigan from Absolute Michigan.
Berry Branch, photo by Voxphoto.
In Bokeh: What it is and isn’t, Ross (Vox) says that although “bokeh” is the Japanese word for blurry, before this useful term degenerates into just another name for “blurry” we should take a stand to preserve its specific technical meaning:
Bokeh refers to the subjective quality of the blur. Is it “jangly” and busy-looking, or creamy and smooth? Do out-of-focus highlights have odd, distracting shapes, or are they unobtrusive circles? Does the blurred area seem to “swirl” around the center of the photo in arcs? These are some of the factors which might be mentioned as aspects of the bokeh for a particular lens. And these may be the reasons why a serious bokeh geek would chose one particular lens over a different brand with otherwise identical specs.
The word “bokeh” officially entered the English language in 1997, in an issue of the magazine Photo Techniques—whose editor Mike Johnston decided to add the final ‘h’ to make the pronunciation less ambiguous. He tells the story here, and includes some interesting photos showing different subjective effects in various blurred backgrounds.
Read the rest for more technical observations on bokeh from Ross’s excellent photography blog silverbased.org and check out this bokeh slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool.
“Victory Eagle” at Former Veterans Memorial Building–Detroit MI, photo by pinehurst19475.
Anthony Lockhart writes:
This monumental sculptural relief (twenty-eight feet tall) by Marshall Fredericks is on the north wall of what was the Veterans Memorial Building. It symbolizes both sacrifice and victory. The building is now the UAW-Ford National Programs Center. It was designed by the firm of Harley, Ellington and Day and dedicated in 1951.
He has many more statues & sculptures from Detroit (view slideshow)
Editor’s note: I’m always surprised when I find that I’ve never featured a photo from a photographer whose work I follow closely. This is one of those times – if you’re looking for architectural photographs of Detroit and the surrounding area with informed commentary … look no further.
tracks pano, photo by scott.gosnell.
Click the photo to see this excellent panorama larger and to see it on a map. Michigan in Pictures often features stories of historical structures that are being preserved. As near as I can tell, this is not one of those.
The Michigan Passenger Stations page on Clare Union Station begins:
The Clare depot was built by the Pere Marquette and Ann Arbor Railroads in 1898 at a total cost of $6585. The Queen Ann style depot has wings paralleling each set of tracks. There are two bay windows, presumably for agents of both railroads. The door and window arrangement suggests waiting rooms and freight rooms for both roads also.
The Pere Marquette built through Clare around 1870. This was part of the original PM land grant railroad…
Passenger service on the Ann Arbor ended in 1950 and after being used for many years for storage, the building was abandoned. Click to read more and see some more views of the station, including historical photos.
For more photos of the station you can check out Clare, Michigan at Michigan’s Internet Railroad History Museum.
Assembling the Model T, photo courtesy Archives of Michigan
The September 2008 Image of the Month from the Archives of Michigan (click through for more pictures) says that the first production Model T was completed Sept. 27, 1908, at Ford’s Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit.
…Henry Ford wanted a car that the average American could afford. The Model T initially sold for $850. The price continued to drop as Ford’s assembly line technology improved production efficiency. According to Willis F. Dunbar and George S. May’s third revised edition of Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State, a Model T touring car cost only $360 by 1916.
The Model T also proved remarkably easy to maintain. Dunbar and May note, for example, that it “was so easy to repair that almost anyone could fix something … with a pair of pliers and a screwdriver.” Gasoline seldom proved an onerous expense, either. On page 45 of The Ford Century author Russ Bahnam notes that the Model T averaged twenty-five miles per gallon – with a gallon of gas typically costing only twenty cents!
The Ford Motor Company produced over 15 million Model Ts between 1908 and 1927. According to The Henry Ford of Dearborn, Mich., the Volkswagen Beetle is the only model with a greater production record!
For more in the Model T check out the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex, Inc. (aka the T-Plex) and the Model-T Centennial exhibit at The Henry Ford.
While this year’s annual Labor Day walk across the Mackinac Bridge isn’t getting nearly the fanfare of last year’s 50th anniversary walk across the Mighty Mac, it’s still the one day each year that you can walk across Michigan’s engineering wonder.
The photo above is from the Opening Ceremony gallery at the Mackinac Bridge Authority web site where you can also find a Bridge Walk gallery and more information about the bridge. For a ton more photos and stories about the Mackinac Bridge, click the button below!
Michigan in Pictures 