One of my favorite things about Michigan in Pictures is seeing some of the incredible cameras people are using.
One man who has some sweet gear is Kirt E. Carter and he has been bringing some incredible Hasselblad pics to the Absolute Michigan group on Flickr for the better part of a decade. I figured today was a good day to bring attention to his amazing work. The large one below of icicles on the Eagle Harbor shoreline – see more in the Hasselblad search in the Absolute Michigan group & for sure head over to his website to view & purchase his work!
A winter storm watch is usually issued when a storm system is one to two days from starting. This long lead time is used to help you get ready if you have to make travel or work changes. Eventually as the storm gets closer, the winter storm watch either turns to a winter storm warning or a winter weather advisory.
The map above shows how the large winter storm watch area earlier today has been fine-tuned to mostly winter weather advisories. A winter storm watch still exists for the Thumb and northeast shoreline until the next round of data shows which way to go on the watch. There should be some lake enhancement of the snow totals in the Thumb and northeast shoreline, possibly putting those areas over the six inch winter storm warning criteria.
Latest revision (3:26 p.m. Tuesday) of the winter storm watch to mostly winter weather advisories in purple. There still is a waiting game with the winter storm watch in blue for the Thumb, Oakland county, Macomb County and the northeast shoreline. image by NOAA
Total snow forecast from the North American Model (NAM) through Thursday afternoon.NOAA
Lee shared this photo of Holstein cattle on an Amish farm riding out a winter snowstorm in Mecosta County to the Absolute Michigan group on Flickr last January. When I did a quick Google search because I had forgotten if Lee was a he or a she, I realized that he had a lot more photos in excellent essay entitled FALLING SNOW: A Landscape Transformed on his blog:
When I see snow falling, dissolving the landscape into a place entirely different, I am enthralled by the veiled look of the land. Every surface is softened and sounds are muffled and most people have retreated indoors. The familiar is transformed.
The pictures in this photographic essay were taken near my Michigan home, where I love to venture into the heaviest snow squalls, finding barns and forests transformed by the falling snow. I am fortunate to live near an Amish community, where their barns and buggies and homes are often featured in my winter photography. Enjoy the photographs, and find a new appreciation for winter.
Pure Michigan shares that lower Bond Falls is a scenic and popular waterfall in the Upper Peninsula’s Ontonagon County that is created by the middle branch of the Ontonagon River tumbling over a thick belt of fractured rock that divides it into numerous small cascades. Total drop of the falls is approximately 50 feet & you can get directions & more from the DNR page for Bond Falls Scenic Site.
I originally saw this photo posted by a Facebook page not affiliated with the photographer, something that has become increasingly common. I really hope we can all endeavor to share info & links for the photos we share and to block & report pages that steal photos from actual photographers!
You can view & purchase more Michigan waterfall pictures including these on John’s website, and also get prints, canvas, puzzles, photo coasters, note cards, and Michigan calendars at michigannutphotography.com so what are you waiting for?
9 years ago I started a Michigan in Pictures Patreon page to allow folks to throw me a few bucks in support of michpics. A big thank you to all who have done so – it means a lot to know you care.
My best friend Ken who has since passed on & I took these photos way back in August of 2007 after an honestly incredible rock stacking event on the Lake Michigan shoreline just north of the village of Frankfort. I still have no idea who did this, but I know that I will never forget it!! I hope you enjoy these photos & the video and also that you’re able to make or discover magic in your corner of the Great Lakes State.
Every year I like to look back on the most popular photos from the previous year of Michigan in Pictures, and this year is no exception. Joey’s incredible drone shot of workers laying the last girder in place to connect the deck of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge to the Detroit Port of Entry was not only the most popular post in 2024 — with 2.9 MILLION views it also became the most popular post ever on Michigan in Pictures! This astonishing project has been directed and paid for by Canada & opens in November of 2025! Learn more about the Gordie Howe Bridge on Michigan in Pictures & for sure follow Joey on Instagram and view & purchase photos on his website!
Checking in at number two is this peach of a photo of Turnip Rock near Port Austin in Michigan’s Thumb. Tom shared that this gigantic stone developed its signature look after millennium of being worn away by waves thumping across its bow to the point where it’s just an island inhabited by some trees and very little else. Head over to Tom’s website to view & purchase his work!
This shot from Flint by Morgan Andrew Somers of a plane flying into the eclipse was the 3rd most popular pic of 2024. It is also one of the coolest eclipse photos & photos in general I’ve ever seen!
The 4th most popular post was a pair of pics showing the freighter Herbert C Jackson passing under the bridge with Mike Rezabek’s photo of the walk below from the deck of the Jackson completing the 360 view!
The most popular post from previous years was the 2014 feature on the Eastern Hog-nosed Snake (Heterodon platirhinos). The “puff adder” is one of only 17 species of snake in Michigan and like all but one of the, it’s harmless to humans.
FYI, the only poisonous snake native to Michigan is the Eastern massasauga rattlesnake which has the weakest venom of any rattler.
I promised a look at what’s in store for 2025, so here are five goals I think I can achieve in the coming year:
Visiting or revisiting places I’ve talked about on Michigan in Pictures, either in person or real life. One of the biggest reasons I created Michigan in Pictures was to provide a window into the many cool experiences available in the Great Lakes State. Back in the day when I started, I was able able to get out and about to all corners of the state, but these days I just don’t have the same time to do that. I’m hoping that in addition to pushing myself to do more, I can find some photographers exploring them.
Highlighting more photos from our Michigan in Pictures group on Facebook and creating addition virtual & maybe even real world opportunities to share photos. There used to be some very fun Exposure.Detroit shows & meetups back in the day, and I was even able to lead a field trip to the Grand Traverse Commons with the group. These days I work & know folks at some cool spots here in Detroit that would be fun to explore, and there are a lot of photographers featured here that have deep roots in all corners of Michigan. Social media is cool & all, but for my money, the real world is where things are going to be at in the years to come.
Reaching out to some of the amazing Michigan photographers I’ve profiled over the years to see what they’re up to now & what they’re thinking about photography. And of course to do profiles on some of the great new photographers I’m sharing. I didn’t do a whole lot of Michigan Photographer Profiles, but the ones I did were absolutely fascinating to me both as a photographer and as a lover of Michigan.
Find more Michigan companies & photography companies to donate swag to give away. When we were running Absolute Michigan at full steam, we used to get a lot of free promotional items like concert tickets, museum passes, free lodging stays, outdoor & other gear, and lots more.
I started Michigan in Pictures way back on December 30, 2025. In the 19 years since, I’ve shared 2840 posts – well, 2841 now – to 1.6 million people! Thank you all for being a part of it!!
I took this photo & the one below at the Manitou Music Festival at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore way back in 2005! You can see a lot more in my Music Makes Me Smile gallery on Flickr, and the dancing fellow in the bottom picture is Jacob Wheeler, editor & publisher of the fantastic Glen Arbor Sun!
Given the veritable explosion of aurora borealis & nighttime photos due to the fact phone cameras are finally allowing people to take low light pictures, I think it’s important for folks to understand that even though you can’t get results like you see from some of the best northern lights photographers, these photographers aren’t faking or cheating. They are simply working with much more photo data & understanding of how to apply it than most people.
Monika shares “The difference between a phone shot and a camera shot, each taken several minutes apart. I took quite a few phone shots that night, esp as I worked my way up the coast of the Keweenaw in 28mph winds. In each phone shot, I see noise, blown pixels, and black feathering. Shooting on a camera in raw, we have to edit to put the contrast, color, and texture back into it. It looks very milky before editing and it takes a lot of work.
Cyber Monday is a term coined almost 20 years ago by Ellen Davis as the name for the phenomenon of people returning on the post-Thanksgiving Monday to shop with their high-speed Internet connections at work. It’s become the biggest online shopping day of the year & the second biggest shopping day of overall.
I really really hope that for Cyber Monday you think about buying prints, calendars & other items from the amazing photographers featured on Michigan in Pictures! There are all kinds of challenges including AI that make it harder and harder to earn a living with your camera!
Holtec International, the company that owns and wants to restart the closed Palisades nuclear plant, is already working on preliminary site plans for a pair of 300-megawatt SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) previously announced for the industrial site along Lake Michigan in Covert Township.
…Advanced nuclear technology expert Staffan Qvist, Swedish engineer and scientist, said SMRs come with “inherent safety” measures using the basic physics of the plant’s design and engineering. He said SMRs will generate smaller loads of electricity than classic nuclear plants but will cost much less to build. Qvist said the Holtec SMR-300 is a primarily water-cooled design, and he likened it to a shrunken down version of a conventional pressurized water reactor (but)… Nuclear critic Kevin Kamps, of watchdog group Beyond Nuclear, said trying to restart the old nuclear plant and co-locate new modular units was setting up the site for “Fukushima-like domino-effect meltdowns.”
Linda is one of Michigan in Pictures’ biggest fans and yesterday she dropped the fact that much of Michigan was facing what could be the driest September since we started keeping records in 1877 until recently! mLive shared that although September 2024 remains historically dry, the rain of the last few days is helping to combat the drought.
Also I am of course very happy to add the latest photo the Michigan in Pictures Duckie Project, a decade-spanning chronicle of our feathered, floating friends!
Michigan in Pictures 