Sleeping Bear Dune Rides, 1940

Posted on by farlane

Sleeping Bear Dune Rides, 1940, photo by Fred Dickinson

Sleeping Bear Dune Rides, 1940, photo by Fred Dickinson

In defiance of the weather we’re featuring a super-cool Michigan travelogue from 1949 on Absolute Michigan that begins in the Sleeping Bear Dunes. In addition to a selected of classic travel destinations, you can see the dunesmobiles in action.

Visit the Dickinson Gallery for many more classic photos and information on ordering and also check out Riding the Dunes from the Northern Michigan Journal for more about the Sleeping Bear Dunesmobiles.

Taken by the RenCen colors

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

RenCen

RenCen, photo by DetroitBikeBlog.

DetroitBikeBlog says: This weekend I pulled my broken old Sony Camera apart and then carefully put it back together again. Amazingly this cured the C13 fault that’s had it on a shelf for 2 years. So I went out to today to try a few shots with its toy-camera fisheye! This is the east aspect of the RenCen, I’ve always been taken by the colors along here.

Gotta see it bigger … or on black … or bigger on black. ;)

Pinorama & The Silver Dreams of Plastic Cameras

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Michigan Theater Pinorama

Michigan Theater Pinorama, photo by Voxphoto.

Pin-o-rama Painted HouseIf you’re going to be in the Ann Arbor area next Friday (March 23) or any time through April 6, consider taking in the Cheap Shots Photographic Exhibition at Gallery 4, 212 Nickels Arcade in Ann Arbor. It is the first-ever exhibition by the Ann Arbor Area Krappy Kamera Club and is intended to celebrate the messy unpredictability and dreamlike imagery that only a truly rotten camera can provide. In addition to the Friday opening, there will also be talks on toy camera history, “orphaned” cameras (Argus, Brownies, old SLRs) and a free pinhole camera workshop taught by Vox (Ross Orr) and Matt Callow.

Now that we have that bit of business out of the way, how about the pics produced by Ross’s Panoramic Pinhole Camera? Ross has an article on building the pinhole cam used to take these photos in the latest issue of MAKE: Magazine. You can see more shots from his camera at the pin-o-rama tag, and be sure to click the links to make them bigger.

The Novi Special Water Tower

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

2006.06.11 - Water Tower - Novi - 004

2006.06.11 – Water Tower – Novi – 004, photo by ercy.

This is just one of the photos in the Michigan Water Towers group on Flickr. It might seem a little silly to have a collection of water towers, but (in Ercy’s apt phrasing) water towers are reminders of paths we’ve taken.

Since Wikipedia pretty much has the theory and history of water towers covered, here’s a bit on the Novi Special. Novi is a suburb located to the northwest of Detroit and according to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America of Novi, it’s also the place where:

Ed & Bud Winfield designed and built a 181 cubic inch supercharged V-8 engine in 1938. It was arguably the most advanced piston engine in the world. It was this engine that became the famous Novi V-8 and powered a series of Novi Specials at Indianapolis from the 1940’s through the 1960’s. Even after the last Novi Special raced in 1965, the name has been associated with speed and power.

Click the Novi Special below for more details from the Motorsports Hall of Fame. If you click the car when you get there, you can see a nice photo of the last Novi Special ever made. (if you visit the Hall, you can see the actual car!)

Lawndale Market: Detroit’s Polaroid Paradise

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Lawndale Market by Ryan Keberly

One of my goals with Michigan in Pictures this year is to bring in more photos and photographers from all over Michigan and I can’t think of a better place to start than at Lawndale Market. Ryan Keberly writes:

Every inch of the Lawndale Market was covered in Polaroid photos — the bottle return, deli counter, ceiling, refrigerators and cigarette racks.

Each Polaroid (approximately 10,000 total) was preciously customized in ball-point pen with the date, subject’s name and the title “Gold Loves Me.”

You can see more photos at Lawndale Market on Ryan’s site, read an article about Lawndale Market from Metro Times Detroit or use this map to Lawndale Market from the Google to drive there.

Ryan Keberly is a freelance photographer and web designer who has put together some great sites including Snowsuit.net (on permanent hiatus but still amazing) and Spouse Notes (postings of notes from one loved one to another). Find a bunch more sites and photo collections at Ryan Keberly Photography.

Like all photos on Michigan in Pictures, this photo is copyrighted to the photographer. As Ryan’s site so simply reminds us: “Don’t steal. Ever.”

A visit to Cranbrook House and Gardens

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Untitled, photo by Rhonda_Marie.

Last weekend, the Exposure.Detroit group on Flickr held a photography meetup at Cranbrook. Here is a link to many more great photos taken at Cranbrook.

Cranbrook House and Gardens in Bloomfield Hills is the heart of the over 300-acre National Historic Landmark Cranbrook campus. The English Arts and Crafts-style Cranbrook House was designed by Detroit architect Albert Kahn in 1908 for Detroit News publisher George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth. The home is the oldest surviving manor in the metro Detroit area. According to the Cranbrook House and Gardens site:

The Booths commissioned the finest artisans, craftsmen and studios of the period to furnish the house with handcrafted furniture, tapestries, tiles, stained and leaded glass, and other works of fine and decorative art.

The 40 acres of gardens that surround Cranbrook House were originally designed by George Booth to entice visitors to savor the serenity of the spring and summer months. From the symmetry of the Sunken Garden to the scent of the herbaceous garden to the casual beauty of the bog garden, there is something to capture everyone’s interest. Sculpture, fountains and architectural fragments enhance the setting with spacious lawns, specimen trees, and a lake stretching out beyond the fieldstone walls.

Also see Cranbrook’s History in the Cranbrook Archives and How one man’s bad luck paved way for creation of Cranbrook from the Detroit News Rearview Mirror. Also see this map of the Cranbrook area with geotagged photos.

1890s View of Michigan’s Capitol from the Lansing Standpipe

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

STANDPIPE VIEW OF LANSING LOOKING WEST, C. 1890s.

These two photos are from the book Lansing: City on the Grand by James MacLean and Craig A. Whitford from Arcadia Publishing (book details & purchase online). The 128 page book features over 200 historical photos of Lansing. In addition to photos you’d expect (Lansing Olds, REO plant and the Capitol building) there are photos and stories you wouldn’t like Barnes Castle (torn down in 1957 for a parking lot) and Charlie Zmuda, the “Bat Man”.

(above) STANDPIPE VIEW OF LANSING LOOKING WEST, C. 1890s.
A popular location for photographers to capture the city was the standpipe located on south Cedar Street. THE MYSTERIOUS STANDPIPE, C. 1890sThis view was taken prior to the construction of a new wide steel bridge on Michigan Avenue, crossing the Grand River. (FPML/CADL.)

(right) THE MYSTERIOUS STANDPIPE, C. 1890s.
The standpipe was constructed in 1885 and served as the city’s storage tank for water. The tower was located east of Cedar Street and south of Michigan Avenue, where the Board of Water and Light have their holding tanks today. The remarkable aspect of the standpipe was that you could walk to the top on the circular staircase that wraps around the tower. Many a photographer took advantage of this and quite a few panoramic photographs were taken. The standpipe was torn down in 1949. (FPML/CADL.)

Photos reprinted with permission from Lansing: City on the Grand by James MacLean and Craig A. Whitford. Available from the publisher online at www.arcadiapublishing.com or by calling 888-313-2665.

View other excerpts from Arcadia Publishing’s Michigan books at Michigan in Pictures!

Holler: Detroit Photos + Detroit Cobras

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Edited Dec 20, 2014: Unfortunately the photo that was featured here was deleted. Here’s the video instead…

Absolute Michigan’s first Michigan photo-video titled Holler: Detroit Photos + Detroit Cobras featuring great photos of the Motor City and a rockin’ Detroit Cobras tune.

Thanks to all the photographers who shared work that is in here and also to those who did but aren’t (there’s over 1500 pics of Detroit in the Absolute Michigan pool!)

PS: There’s 20,000+ pics of Detroit now!!

Point Betsie Lighthouse in Winter

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

P2190088B

P2190088B, photo by jsorbieus.

According to Life Along the Manitou Passage’s page on the Pt. Betsie Light (developed in 2001):

The light was constructed in 1858 at a cost of $3,000 and was called the “Point Aux Bec Scies” lighthouse. This point of land is translated from the French as “sawed beak point”. The original 37 foot tower was replaced by a 100 foot structure in 1880 and houses a Fourth Order Fresnel lens. It was not fully automated until 1983, and is the last manned lighthouse on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

Time has marched on and in June of 2004, ownership of the light was transferred to Benzie County and is operated by the Friends of Point Betsie Lighthouse. They have an excellent timeline and a wealth of other information about the lighthouse, including their plans for restoration and some great historical and modern day photo galleries.

As is usually the case, Terry Pepper has an excellent narrative on Point Betsie’s history. Thanks also to Jim for uploading this large enough to be my computer wallpaper! ;)

(this is) The Spirit of Detroit

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

The Spirit of Detroit

The Spirit of Detroit, photo by One Foot Over The Moon.

Continuing our run of photographers never before seen on Michigan in Pictures, here’s a photo from One Foot Over The Moon . It’s part of her This is Detroit set, which takes an interesting look at the Motor City. Check it out…

(much more about the Spirit of Detroit)