Sun Pillar vs Sun Pillar

Posted on by farlane

Sun Pillars by Stephen Michael Mannina

Atmospheric Optics explains that the mesmerizing solar phenomena known as sun pillars are:

…Typically visible near sunset or sunrise, pillars can reach heights of 5 to 10 degrees, and occasionally even higher. While they may appear as vertical rays, they are actually the collective glints of millions of ice crystals. When it comes to colors, pillars are truly a sight to behold. They take on hues that reflect the sun and surrounding clouds, ranging from brilliant white to various shades of yellow, red, or purple. Depending on the locations of the cloud crystals, pillars can even manifest as several vertically strung patches of light. As the light interacts with the ice crystals in the atmosphere, it creates a stunning display that captivates observers.

Yesterday morning, I came across this photo by Stephen right before I saw him making a positive comment on a photo that Sean – the photographer I featured yesterday – had taken. This was soon after I had seen photos Neil Weaver had taken at an ice cave photography workshop along with fellow Michpics photographer Aubrieta Hope. It made me realize that a huge and underrated part of Michigan in Pictures is the community of real live human beings that are as passionate about their fellow photographers as they are about introducing people to their favorite parts of Michigan. That’s a long way of saying that I am going to be working on ways to showcase the people out there clicking the shutter. One way will be to revive the Michigan Photographer Profiles with a focus on the photographers on my Michigan Photographers page. Stay tuned!!

Thanks to Stephen for allowing me to share both of these awesome sun pillar shots. He’s facing a problem that many photographers face: figuring out which of these two photos is the best to submit for a photography contest? Have a vote? Share it in the comments below or on his Facebook post and for sure view & purchase his work on his website!

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Michigan rolling out Semiquincentennial license plates for 2026

Posted on by farlane
Bicentennial License Plate Map - Michigan by design turnpike

Bicentennial License Plate Map – Michigan by design turnpike

I’m old enough to remember the Bicentennial craze of 1976 from Sam the Eagle to Michigan’s iconic bicentennial license plates. Get ready drivers, because Bridge Magazine shares that Michigan is bringing back the red, white and blue retro license plate next month in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary: Beginning Jan. 2, Michiganders will be able to order a new red, white and blue semiquincentennial plate that is modeled after the 1976 bicentennial design. The plate features updated patriotic elements, including stars and stripes, and will be available through the end of 2026.

The photos that David of Design Turnpike shared years ago of his original license plate artwork were so perfect for this post, so I was happy to see that he’s still in business! Follow Design Turnpike on Facebook and view & purchase his work on his website.

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Triple Dip Polar Vortex coming for Michigan

Posted on by farlane
Shark Attack - Triple X by Jill N. Hamilton-Krawczyk

Shark Attack – Triple X by Jill N. Hamilton-Krawczyk

Accuweather shares that much of the US and definitely Michigan is facing a rare “triple dip” polar vortex:

“This Arctic air outbreak can be attributed to a displacement of the polar vortex,” AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said. “The outbreak this week will be the first of probably three such rounds with it. Another cold blast is likely next week and a third the week after that,” Pastelok explained. “The waves of Arctic air will lead to significant surges in energy demands.”

I originally shared this photo way back on April 1, 2010 along with a pretty funny spoof, and I am very happy to bring it back along with several more that Jill shared from The Heidelberg Project in Detroit, a truly astonishing work of activist art. See many more in her excellent Detroit gallery on Flickr & stay warm people!!

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Rock on, Michigan in Pictures

Posted on by farlane
Frankfort Rock Garden by Andrew McFarlane

Rain Comes by Andrew McFarlane

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.

Frankfort Rock Gallery photos by Andrew McFarlane & Ken Lake

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19 years of Michigan in Pictures

Posted on by farlane
Upper Deck by Andrew McFarlane

Upper Deck by Andrew McFarlane

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!!

The most popular post ever remains Know Your Michigan Turtles, but every year Underwater Stonehenge in Lake Michigan gains a little ground. The top five rounds out with Fist of a Champion: Detroit’s Monument to Joe Louis, Northern Lights Forecast: Predicting the Aurora Borealis in Michigan & Detroit’s Michigan Central Station. To make the boxes below line up nicely, I’ve added #6 which is a personal favorite: Slumpy: the William Livingstone Mansion in Brush Park.

In 2025, I am going to celebrate the 20th year by revisiting some of the amazing photographers & photographic subjects to see where they are now!


Know Your Michigan Turtles
Underwater Stonehenge in Lake Michigan
Fist of a Champion: Detroit’s Monument to Joe Louis

Northern Lights Forecast: Predicting the Aurora Borealis in Michigan
Detroit’s Michigan Central Station
Slumpy: the William Livingstone Mansion in Brush Park

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!

Jacob Dancing by Andrew McFarlane

Jacob Dancing by Andrew McFarlane

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Honolulu Blue Monday

Posted on by farlane

Dodge Fountain in Honolulu Blue by Andrew McFarlane

The Detroit Lions kicked off their highly anticipated 2024 season with a 26-20 overtime victory over former QB Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams! In honor of this, I decided to share one of my own photos, a picture of the Dodge Fountain on Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit lit up in Honolulu Blue.

I knew that the Dodge Fountain had been designed by artist Isamu Noguchi, but I just learned that he designed Philip A. Hart Plaza as well:

Noguchi’s most ambitious effort at the time, the Philip A. Hart Plaza project, began with a commission for a fountain and spanned almost a decade as the artist expanded his scope to create the surrounding plaza along with facilities below surface level. Envisioned as a place for the community to gather, the plaza layout emphasized flexibility to accommodate large groups. Dotting the eight-acre site are various stepped areas for both seating and play; an outdoor amphitheater built into a hollow below-surface grade; and a 120-foot-tall stainless steel, torqued pylon marking one entrance. Its central feature is the Horace E. Dodge Fountain, a horizontal ring of stainless steel suspended by legs above a massive granite pool and animated by the results of Noguchi’s ongoing experiments with programmed spray patterns (as well complex lighting schemes for nighttime).

I don’t have a photography website, but if you enjoy Michigan in Pictures you can support me with a few bucks on Patreon!!

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Mapping the Murals in Detroit

Posted on by farlane

The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth by Derek Farr

The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth by Derek Farr

The Detroit Free Press had a recent feature on a new digital map of the city of Detroit’s murals:

Detroit’s office of Arts, Culture & Entrepreneurship (Detroit ACE) announced Wednesday it is partnering with CANVS, an art technology company, to identify all the outdoor art on city walls.

ACE Director Rochelle Riley announced the initiative during a news conference in front of Chroma, a co-working office space in the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood. The CANVS collaboration, which involves an iPhone application and an online map, is part of Mayor Mike Duggan’s “Blight to Beauty” campaign promoting public art.

Riley declared the upcoming season “the summer of Detroit murals,” and said ACE will begin enlisting “mural hunters,” an army of supporters who will help enter murals into the registry.

To better connect residents to murals, CANVS will create a digital map on the ACE webpage that will allow users to create tours of similar murals, or find murals they have seen, but do not remember where.

Lorren Cargill, co-founder of the startup, said one of his company’s missions is to better connect community to art. “When art becomes more accessible, it allows people to better connect with the city,” he said.

You can learn more about the Mural map and other efforts through Detroit ACE and head over to CANVS to get the app and sign up to be a mural hunter.

Derek took this shot somewhere in Detroit back in March. Where exactly? I don’t know but I’ll find it with this app someday!! See more in his massive Detroit gallery on Flickr.

More murals on Michigan in Pictures.

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Follow the Yellow Brick Road to ArtPrize

Posted on by farlane

Art Prize - Tin Man by Daniel L

Art Prize – Tin Man by Daniel L

The annual Grand Rapids Art Prize is once again underway, running through this Sunday, October 3rd. The event was started back in 2009 & has become one of the nation’s leading public art competitions. This year nearly 900 entries are available to view & vote on. Here’s hoping you get a chance to visit!!

Daniel took this photo the other day – see more on his Flickr!

More ArtPrize on Michigan in Pictures.

PS: The Tin Man sculpture was created by Bill Secunda.

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Diego Rivera’s Industrial Symphony

Posted on by farlane

Diego Riviera Mural by Ashleigh Mowers

Diego Rivera Mural by Ashleigh Mowers

“As I rode back to Detroit, a vision of Henry Ford’s industrial empire kept passing before my eyes. In my ears, I heard the wonderful symphony which came from his factories where metals were shaped into tools for men’s service. It was a new music, waiting for the composer with genius enough to give it communicable form.

I thought of the millions of different men by whose combined labor and thought automobiles were produced, from the miners who dug the iron ore out of the earth to the railroad men and teamsters who brought the finished machines to the consumer, so that man, space, and time might be conquered, and ever-expanding victories be won against death.”
― Diego Rivera, My Art, My Life

There’s probably not a better monument to the massive role of labor in building Michigan & the United States than the Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry murals. Commissioned for the Detroit Institute of Art, these 27 massive paintings that cover the four walls of the Rivera Court at the DIA:

In 1932, Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) began illustrating the walls of what was then the DIA’s Garden Court. Using the fresco technique common in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Americas, Rivera created a grand and complex cycle of murals that portray the geological, technological, and human history of Detroit. He also developed an ancient context for modern industry rooted in the belief system of the Aztec people of central Mexico.

Ashley took this photo back in January of 2017. You can see more in her Detroit gallery & on her website!

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Remembering MSU philanthropist Eli Broad

Posted on by farlane

Another Night at the Museum by fotoman91

Another Night at the Museum by fotoman91

Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business dean Sanjay Gupta shares a tribute to billionaire alumnus Eli Broad who died last week at the age of 87, saying in part:

As a loyal Spartan, Mr. Broad has left an extraordinary and unparalleled legacy on the banks of the Red Cedar. In total, Eli and Edythe have given nearly $100 million to support MSU in a multitude of ways. From building the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum to supporting the College of Education, their impact has been significant across campus.

Nowhere has their giving been more evident than here in the Broad College of Business. Passionate about the MBA program, in 1991, Mr. Broad made what was at the time the largest gift ever made to a public business school. His $20 million commitment to the Eli Broad College of Business and the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management — both renamed in his honor — was designed to help the university’s new full-time MBA program emerge as one of the nation’s top graduate management programs. Today, that program is a top 25 U.S. public program that has launched the careers of countless Spartans.

The Broad Museum is a contemporary art museum and is open free of charge Friday – Sunday from noon to 6 PM.

fotoman91 took this pic last summer. See more in his awesome Night Time gallery on Flickr.

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