looking out, photo by neubauerphotography.
The EXPOSURE.Detroit photography group opens their February Photography Exhibit on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 from 7-10 PM at the Bean & Leaf Cafe in Royal Oak. The exhibit will feature the work of five talented photographers:
Mike says that he loves trying to capture lightning. See this bigger in his slideshow.
24/365 – Quincy Boiler and Shaft, photo by dcclark.
You can buy mine related stuff and get tour information from the Quincy Mine Hoist Association. You can’t, however, get historical information.
Thankfully, David has posted a bunch. He has some information on his Copper Country Explorer web site (update: actually run by his friend Mike!). On his Cliffs & Ruins blog he writes:
In the foreground are the ruins an old boiler house — once filled with huge steam boilers, providing steam power to the mine. Behind it is the #2 shafthouse, a modern steel structure from a different era of the mine’s development.
The Quincy Mine is a very different mine from the Central Mine, featured yesterday. Although both started in the 1850s, the Central was a “fissure” mine — mining primarily huge, pure chunks of copper. The Quincy, on the other hand, was an “amygdaloid” mine — mining rock with tiny bits of copper infused through it. As it turns out, Quincy’s model was better, and all of the truly successful mines in the Copper Country were amygdaloid mines. Quincy paid dividends for nearly 50 years straight, earning it the name “Old Reliable”. But, just like the Central and all other Copper Country mines, the Quincy is now nothing more than a collection of shafts and ruins.
It’s one of the Keweenaw National Heritage Sites and there’s detailed information on Wikipedia’s Quincy Mine entry.
Be sure to check this out bigger, in David’s store and on his Quincy, Michigan map.
1st Place – People’s Choice Award, Pure Michigan, photo by Mike Darga.
Every season, Pure Michigan sponsors a photo competition.
Mike’s photo from Kensington Metropark was selected as the People’s Choice winner in their Fall contest. You can see it bigger in his Michigan Parks slideshow.
You can enter their Winter contest and learn more and see past winners at puremichiganphotoclub.com.
…and have a good weekend!
Check this out bigger, in Rick’s DN Central Races Boyne City, Michigan 01/15-1/17/2010 set and for lots more of Michigan’s best ice boating action, head over to elklakeiceboating.com.
There’s an Upside and a Downside, photo by farlane.
A friend told me yesterday about a deal that Shell stations are offering to give you a free ski ticket at participating ski resorts when you buy 10 gallons of gas. The details are at skifreedeals.com and the Michigan resorts are:
Every once in a while I get to use one of my own photos. It’s in my contract along with the “no red jellybeans” clause. You can check it out bigger and in my Winter slideshow.
Tons more Michigan skiing info including profiles of these resorts at absolutemichigan.com/Ski.
~ You Are My Sunshine ~, photo by suesue2.
Here’s something for those who’ve had a little too much in the snow & gray department lately. You might also want to check out this feature on Absolute Michigan that looks at how Michigan could be a great state for solar power:
“Many people think that solar won’t work in Michigan because it’s too cold and it doesn’t get as much sun as other places, but that’s misconstrued. Michigan has an average of 4.2 hours of peak sunlight per day each year. Florida, the ‘Sunshine State’ only has about five hours.”
Check this out bigger in Sue’s Fantastic Flowers slideshow, and I hope the sun shines on you today, even if it’s just in your heart.
Need more flowers?
Fly Away With Me, photo by palofmine2.
All About Birds has this to say about the Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii):
Among the bird world’s most skilful flyers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds. You’re most likely to see one prowling above a forest edge or field using just a few stiff wingbeats followed by a glide.
You can hear the call of the Cooper’s Hawk at that link and they say that if one of these birds starts treating your bird feeder like a take out, just remove it for a few days and it will move on. More at Wikipedia’s page on the Cooper’s Hawk and at Accipiter cooperii: Cooper’s hawk from the UM Animal Diversity Web.
See this bigger in Renee’s slideshow.
Lots more Michigan birds from Michigan in Pictures!
Painted rolling hills, photo by Dr. Farnsworth.
Wikipedia’s entry on fog says that freezing fog occurs when liquid fog droplets freeze to surfaces, forming white soft or hard rime. Then there’s also hoar frost…
Radiation frost (also called hoar frost or hoarfrost) refers to the white ice crystals, loosely deposited on the ground or exposed objects, that form on cold clear nights when heat losses into the open skies cause objects to become colder than the surrounding air. A related effect is flood frost which occurs when air cooled by ground-level radiation losses travels downhill to form pockets of very cold air in depressions, valleys, and hollows. Hoar frost can form in these areas even when the air temperature a few feet above ground is well above freezing. Nonetheless the frost itself will be at or below the freezing temperature of water.
Hoar frost may have different names depending on where it forms. For example, air hoar is a deposit of hoar frost on objects above the surface, such as tree branches, plant stems, wires; surface hoar is formed by fernlike ice crystals directly deposited on snow, ice or already frozen surfaces; crevasse hoar consists in crystals that form in glacial crevasses where water vapour can accumulate under calm weather conditions; depth hoar refers to cup shaped, faceted crystals formed within dry snow, beneath the surface.
Which is it? I have no idea. I’m hoping one of the weather experts in the audience can tell us!
Check this out bigger or in the Michigan snow group’s slideshow and you can also find a lot more Michigan winter wallpaper for your desktop on Michigan in Pictures.
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, photo courtesy North American International Auto Show
It’s a measure of how far the auto industry has fallen that I’ve barely heard a peep about the 2010 North American International Auto Show. What was once (still is?) the biggest event in Michigan opens to the public today through January 24th. We’ll hopefully have something on Absolute Michigan next week, but until then, check out the Freep and Detroit News coverage, Jalopnik’s Detroit Auto show page and the NAIAS slideshow in the Absolute Michigan pool, which should be updated as pool photographers attend the show!
Here’s a page on the gull-winged Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. No word as to whether it’s flux capacitor ready…
A Curtain of Light and Water (redux), photo by We Are CS.
I know it was just waterfalls a couple of days ago … you have to take them where you find them sometimes.
Although I think the picture they used is not Hungarian Falls, Keweenaw Waterfalls: Hungarian Falls says:
The Upper Hungarian Falls, about 10 feet wide, is located in a beautiful hardwood forest, and drops about 25 feet over a wall of red stone. Downstream the Hungarian Creek slides over the Hungarian Dam to create an unnamed 5-foot falls just below on the far side of the river whose rock walls and ledge appear almost handmade. About 100 yards downstream is a second unnamed falls of about 7 feet into a small pool. Another 250 feet downstream a third unnamed falls drops 25 feet in a shaded canyon whose moss covered walls extend from both sides of the falls. 400 feet downstream is the Lower Hungarian Falls, the most spectacular of all the falls, that drops another 15 feet over terraced rock. To view the entire falls, you need to walk along the top of the ridge as it extends out from the falls (use extreme caution if viewing the falls with children) to see the spectacular 50 foot-plus drop through the thick forest. Spectacular in the spring, flowage can vary greatly during summer and fall.
Check this out bigger or in Kyle’s Hungarian Falls set (slideshow).
Michigan in Pictures 