Karl shared this photo the other day saying “I always ask myself… Which trip is going to cost more..? The one I take or the one I don’t take. Then I know for sure.”
Pure Michigan says that Canyon Falls aka the “Grand Canyon of the UP” is an easy to visit falls with a gorge that is quite impressive, at least by Michigan standards. A scenic trail along the Sturgeon River leads to a series of rapids and small waterfalls before you reach Canyon Falls where the river slides nearly 30′ over a large chute of smooth black rock into a box canyon.
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).
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.
Kevin shares that he took this when he walked along the Grand River on a Sunday morning this August & got to an open field with some great sunlit spider webs. See more in his Butterflies/Insects gallery on Flickr & follow him at Kevin Povenz Photos on Facebook!
Michigan has been awash in Northern Lights for the last several days, and this morning’s NOAA/NWS Space Weather Alert Email says there’s a good chance much of Michigan can see them tonight as well!
I encourage you to click to subscribe to that email, and also to check out our post about how to see the Northern Lights in Michigan. You will also want to join the Michigan Aurora Chasers group on Facebook where I first saw the photo above from last June at Little Girl’s Point on Lake Superior and where Aubrieta is one of the resident aurora experts. View more of her work on Facebook and on her website. She also shared the photo below yesterday. While I can’t link to it, I wanted to what she wrote as a cautionary tale to remind you to double check your gear before you are go outside in the dark!
On September 30 at 2:00 a.m., I made a once-in-a-lifetime mistake. I set out on a hike to the end of the Hunters Point Trail in Copper Harbor, hoping to shoot the Aurora over Porter’s Island. I was fried from shooting the Aurora three nights in a row, so I packed light: a small camera bag, a headlamp, a flashlight and a fanny pack. Having shot for hours, the battery in the camera and the headlamp were nearly done, but I knew I had a spare camera battery and my Fenix flashlight as backup. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that the battery in my Fenix flashlight was dead. I got exactly one shot of the scene before my camera battery died. This one. I plugged in my spare camera battery but it was dead, too. So, I headed back up the trail in near-darkness with just the stars and Aurora to light my way. Those of you who know about my life-long obsession with flashlights, will think this is a tall tale. But it’s a true story! As is the fact that all my batteries are re-charging now, including the one that operates my brain. How I love these Keweenaw nights!
On mornings like this when fall is touching the tips of the leaves, I like to remember photographer & friend Jeff Lamb who passed on fourteen years ago. Here is a collection of photos that he shared from the Leelanau Peninsula back in the day.
The city of Detroit was founded on Sunday July 24, 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac. Throughout the history of the city, Detroit’s industry has been a driving engine of Michigan and the nation, reaching its zenith with the auto industry. To my mind, there’s few things that capture the indomitable spirit of the city like Woodward Avenue. I particularly love that this photo features the new Hudson’s building as a backdrop with one of the auto industry’s more out of the box experiments and a partly people powered pedal pub from Handlebar Detroit.
The Farmer’s Almanac says that the July Full moon is known as the Buck Moon because that’s when the antlers of male deer are in full-growth mode. It’s officially full today (July 10) at 4:37pm EST, and if you watch it rise you’ll see it appear bigger due to the “Moon Illusion,” a phenomenon that occurs when the moon is close to the horizon.
Go out on the night of the full moon and find a good spot to watch it rise. It can be breathtaking, eliciting an awestruck “Wow!” from any skywatcher. When we observe the Moon near the horizon, it often looks HUGE – whether it’s peeking over the shoulder of a distant mountain, rising out of the sea, hovering behind a cityscape, or looming over a thicket of trees.
But here’s the thing: it’s all in your head. Really. The Moon’s seeming bigness is an actual illusion, rather than an effect of our atmosphere or some other physics.
…Photographers can simulate the Moon illusion by taking pictures of the Moon low on the horizon using a long lens, with buildings, mountains, or trees in the frame. So, remember when you see dazzling photos that feature a giant Moon above the landscape: those images are created by zooming in on distant objects near the ground. In other words, the Moon looks bigger in those photos because it’s a zoomed-in view.
kare hav took this photo of the July full moon rising over the Renaissance Center in Detroit back in 2018. The low blue lights on the right are Comerica Park, and the new Hudson Building would be right about where the moon is! See more in their Detroit gallery on Flickr.
I shared this photo 13 years ago, but it really felt like I needed to return here this morning, if only for a virtual moment.
Gary has been a part of Michigan in Pictures for years now, bringing photos from across Michigan, but especially Grand Marais & the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. View & purchase his work at Footsore Photography & for sure follow Gary on Facebook! The first two below are from The Coves along with a collection including Lower Mosquito Falls in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore & the last is from the upcoming Grand Marais Fly-in!
The sun’s brush paints the day’s end with strokes of flowing orange and opalescent coral. Sleeping Bear Dunes, guardian of the coast, stand silhouetted against the celestial masterpiece. As the sun descends, the waters of North Bar Lake become a mirror, reflecting the heavens in all their fiery glory. A ribbon of liquid cuts through the sand, mirroring the sky’s vibrant hues. The wet sand, kissed by the setting sun, flows with ethereal light, a testament to the sun’s final performance. The air, still and hushed, is filled with the gentle lapping of waves against the shore, a soothing melody that accompanies the visual symphony.
Mark Lindsay from The Soul of Sleeping Bear
Leelanau.com shares that photographer Mark Lindsay (whose work you may have seen on Michigan in Pictures) has released his first book, The Soul of Sleeping Bear. It’s a beautiful, coffee table book that blends Mark’s gorgeous photography of the Sleeping Bear with writings on what these vistas can spark in your heart.
Michigan in Pictures 