A cove, photo by ReynaTerror.
This photo of Miners Castle in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was taken just about one day after the right turret fell into Lake Superior.
Compare this shot with this photo by Lars Jensen on March 7, 2006. You can read a bunch more about the collapse of the Miners Castle turret on Absolute Michigan.
Sunrise over Ives Lake, photo by I am Jacques Strappe
Welcome to Day 2 of our profile of Michigan photographer Marjorie O'Brien.
Joel wonders if you'd say something about the influence of your father (argusmaniac) on your photography.
Marjorie: My dad is the one who has gotten me started in photography. I probably owe everything I've learned to him — thanks to my father, I've gotten impromptu photography lessons, gone on fantastic roadtrips, received great cameras — so I really thank him for that. We both seem to like the same subjects, though I think I tend to like architecture more than he does. He likes portraits; I like old buildings. At least my subjects don't fidget and aren't camera-shy. :D
Jimtown asks: Marjorie, you've recently returned from a trip to Austria and have been to Canada and a variety of states. What is your impression of Michigan after seeing a little bit of the world?
Marjorie: I still like good ol' Michigan. Austria was absolutely fantastic — it's so different from America and Michigan — the architecture, the landscape, the people. I definitely miss it, that's for sure. Everything there is on a grander scale, and when you come back to Michigan, it's just like, "Wow." But I prefer the good, old-fashioned Americana, and especially Michigan. I feel I can relate to the stuff here — not surprising, of course, but around here I can see the whole thing, the big picture, it seems like. In Austria, everything around you is beautiful and amazing and it leaves you in awe — but it all blends in, after a while. All the cathedrals and palaces start looking the same. Here, there's nothing like that, and when you do see something great, you know it. 
The day after I came back from Austria, I slept; the following day, I went to Ypsilanti's Depot Town to get reacquainted with American architecture.
Matt asks: I know you collect cameras. Is there a camera you'd really like to add to your collection?
Marjorie: Actually, what's amazing is that I haven't bought an old camera for quite some time! (I think…) I have too many cameras, and any unlucky visitor at my house will see them all over the place. My friends think I'm crazy (they also think I'm crazy for driving all the way to South Haven to take a picture of a theatre). My dream camera to find at a yard sale for a few bucks would be the Kodak Bantam Special — because it follows that streamline moderne styling, and I'm crazy about art deco stuff.
Matt also asked this doozy: If you could travel anywhere in the world, to any time in history to take a photograph, where and when would you go and why?
Marjorie: That's a tough one. There was a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon where the two of them traveled back in time and took pictures of the dinosaurs — of course no one believed them. 
Going all the way back to the Jurassic Period to snap a few photos of T-Rex would be pretty cool, but I'd probably have to say America, before it was spoiled by European settlers. It would have been amazing to see Michigan's old forests, or the Great Plains out west, before they were destroyed.
Annie wonders: Who's got the best sign in Michigan?
Marjorie: Taking pictures of old signs is a relatively new hobby for me, so I can't answer this question with much authority. I would say that in Ann Arbor, the best sign I've seen is that of the Ypsi-Arbor Bowl. There's a great sign in Chelsea, the Pontiac sign. And then there's the Casler Hardware sign in Jackson.
Michigan Photographer Profile II
Prequel: Michigan Theatre Detail
Day I: Michigan Photographers: Michpics Talks with Marjorie O'Brien
Day II: Michigan Photographers: Marjorie O'Brien Answers Reader Questions
Cross Beams, photo by Ogemaniac.
The photographer, Chad Brick, says he's something of a cross between Mr Bean and Spiderman and that this photo is of "A unique angle on the Mackinac Bridge joining the two peninsulas of Michigan".
I'm believing the Spiderman thing…
Be sure to view it large!
I wondered how Chad got this photo – glad I didn't give a prize for it because most Michiganders could have told me what Chad did:
On Labor Day, you are allowed to walk across the bridge from north to south in the early morning. I got down on my hands and knees and stuck my camera through the grating.
If you have never done the bridge walk, it is lots of fun. The governor is usually there.
We're headed way up north and 9 years back in time for some amazing aerial photos of ice on Lake Superior above the Keweenaw Peninsula, Whitefish Bay, Marquette and Isle Royale. The photos were taken February-April 1997 at altitudes of 600-1400 m above the lake (some as high as 3000 m) with hand-held SLP cameras using slide film. Most of the photos were taken by Mike Bohn and you can see a whole bunch of shots in the Great Lakes Ice Group Archives at Michigan Tech.
Img_7456, originally uploaded by jensenl.
Miners Castle is located in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. According to the National Park Service:
Miners Castle was named by Englishman Alexander Henry’s employees when they were exploring the area for minerals in 1771. Though no minerals were ever found, the name “Miners” has endured.
From Lars Jensen’s amazing photo album about this excursion:
miners castle is probably the most distinct rock formation in pictured rocks national lakeshore and in the summer it can be reached by a short walk. in the winter, however, they don’t completely plow the roads and miners castle becomes snowbound, the shortest route to it being 8 miles round trip. so, we headed up saturday morning, knowing that the weather forecast was predicting it to be the coldest day of the year with subzero temperatures and windchills down to -30F. a huge storm had just swept through the area, abruptly bringing cold air and snow to the whole state. in ann arbor, the temperature dropped by almost 50 degrees overnight (50F to 2F). the national weather service issued a winter advisory that basically said to stay indoors, so our plan to spend all day outside skiing deep into the backcountry wasn’t sounding so great.
Just in case you are thinking of not going to see Lars’ album, let me tell you again, go there now. (had I the technology, I would probably make you go there)
Here’s a shot of Miners Castle on a slightly warmer day.
| Lay aside your cloak, O Birch-tree! Lay aside your white-skin wrapper, For the Summer-time is coming, And the sun is warm in heaven, And you need no white-skin wrapper!”Thus aloud cried Hiawatha In the solitary forest, By the rushing Taquamenaw ~from The Song of Hiawatha |
 photo by Allan M |
Tahquamenon Falls, U.P. Michigan, photo by by Bluejacket.
Blue Jacket, who took the above photo of Michigan’s largest waterfall in May of 2005, writes:
Located in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, these are the upper falls. This is the land of Longfellow’s Hiawatha. Hiawatha built his canoe “by the rushing Tahquamenaw”. The amber color is caused by tanin leached from the Cedar, Spruce & Hemlock in the swamps drained by the river.
Tahquamenon Falls – Upper Falls, photo by heidigoseek.
Heidi’s pic from September of 2005 seems evocative of the solitary forest.
Upper Falls, photo by jamierytlewski.
Upper Falls is one of a set of pics of the Upper and Lower Tahquamenon Falls taken in February of 2005 by Jamie Rytlewski.
The DNR has a page for Tahquamenon Falls State Park but Exploring the North’s page seems a lot more welcoming and says:
The Upper Falls is one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi. It has a drop of nearly 50 feet and is more than 200 feet across. A maximum flow of more than 50,000 gallons of water per second has been recorded cascading over its precipice.
Upper Tahquamenon Falls, photo by gsgeorge.
In dry times, as Geoffrey George writes, the water can be little more than a trickle.
Here’s a link to more Tahquamenon Falls photos & information from Michigan in Pictures (also see the waterfall tag).
the long hike back, originally uploaded by weaving major.
Today’s photo is one in a series of Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) photos from this UP photographer. She has several other ones that made it hard to decide, especially this one.
According to the Flickr Kite Aerial Photography Group, KAP is basically taking photos with a camera suspended from a kite. The group has links to kites, rigs and more KAP information than you could probably ever digest.
I have no idea WHERE in the UP this photo was taken, but it strikes me that a photo from an unknown place in the wilds of the UP is about as far as you can get from Super Bowl XL. While I much enjoyed the extended stay in the Motor City, I’m happy to be back out in the rest of Michigan!
ford, originally uploaded by argusmaniac.
Great shot of an old Ford. Here’s hoping that Ford (and Michigan’s auto industry as a whole) can rise from the ashes.
If you click the photo, there’s some discussion and links to what the year of the model might be.
Winter Cabin, originally uploaded by tgrabb.
I had no idea where this photo was taken, but Tom (the photographer) posted to let me know it’s in Perkins, Michigan (just north of Escanaba).
Michigan in Pictures 