Delivering a Winter Storm

Posted on by farlane
Winter Mail by Mike Vogel

Winter Mail by Mike Vogel

mLive’s Mark Torregrossa shares that the winter storm bearing down on Michigan overnight is expected to bring a solid band of freezing rain from Jackson to Ann Arbor to Detroit and south to Michigan’s southern border that could have up to one-tenth of an inch of ice accumulation. Based on radar, the iciness will be worst from 4am – 9am Thursday

Mike captured this great shot of a mail truck delivering in Port Huron on a winter day with a Nikon Zfc & TTArtisan 50mm Tilt shift lens 1.4. I hadn’t heard of this lens befor which the manufacturer says transforms ordinary scenes into captivating ‘Lilliput’ landscapes with selective focus and beautiful bokeh.

See more in Mike’s Winter 2025 gallery & for sure follow him on Flickr.

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Top 5 Photos for 2024 & looking ahead to 2025

Posted on by farlane

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!

Gordie Howe’s Last Girder by Joey D

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!

Turnip Rock at sunset by Tom Clark

Fly Me to the Moon by Morgan Andrew Somers

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!

MASPhoto has the receipts – it’s not fake. View & purchase prints including this one at morganandrewsomers.com.

Mackinac Bridge Walk & Herbert C Jackson by the Mackinac Bridge Authority

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!

Bridge Walk from Herbert C Jackson by Mike Rezabek

Milo and the Morazan by Chris Roxburgh

Milo is a good boy & this photo by his owner & Great Lakes shipwreck explorer Chris Roxburgh was our 5th most popular photo of the year.

Follow Chris on Facebook, view & purchase his work including coffee table books on his website, and learn more about the shipwreck of the Francisco Morazan off South Manitou in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore from Leelanau.com!

Eastern Hognose Snake by Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Featuring more of my own photos. Because I enjoy taking them!

Stay tuned & thank you for being a part of Michigan in Pictures! Click for more Michigan in Pictures Year in Reviews & related posts.

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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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Peppers

Posted on by farlane

Peppers by Joel Dinda

MSU shares that Michigan has over 1500 commercial farms growing peppers, which are packed with Vitamins A & C! Head over to MSU Extension for tips on storing & cooking peppers and down to your local farm market to buy them!

See more in Joel’s 366 gallery of mostly monochrome shots.

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Night Moves: Mackinac Bridge Edition

Posted on by farlane

Mackinac Bridge Night Reflections by Michigan Nut Photography

If you’ve been following Michigan in Pictures for any length of time, you are almost certainly familiar with the work of Michigan Nut aka John McCormick. He just announced that his 2025 Michigan Calendars are available so what are you waiting for??

Get your Christmas gifts early on his website!

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When You Look into the Sun

Posted on by farlane

Solar Eclipse 2012 by Diane

So when you look into the sun and see the words you could have sung
It’s not too late, only begun
We can still make summer
Yes, summer always comes anyway

-Ian Anderson (of Jethro Tull)

There’s a lot of wild stories flying around about today’s eclipse. One that isn’t is the fact that there are a LOT of counterfeit glasses out there. If you are not CERTAIN the ones you have are legit, DO NOT WEAR THEM. You could go permanently blind.

Diane took this back in May 2012. See more in her Sunrise~Sunset album on Flickr.

Have a great eclipse & for sure share any pictures here or to this post on Facebook!

Above Frankfort Harbor

Posted on by farlane

Above Frankfort Harbor

Frankfort Harbor, photo by Julie

My friend Enrico of Traverse Today and his sons shared a great aerial video from Frankfort the other day:

Julie took this stunning shot last Saturday. View her photo bigger and see more in her Drone shots slideshow.

Lots more from Frankfort on Michigan in Pictures.

Must be a Monday: Be Yourself Blue Heron Edition

Posted on by farlane

Great Blue Heron Leaving Roost

Great Blue Heron Leaving its Roost, photo by Rodney Campbell

Hope you have a wonderful week, even if you look a little goofy at times. ;)

The Michigan Natural Features Inventory entry for Great Blue Heron Rookeries explains:

The great blue herons in Michigan are largely migratory, with almost all leaving the state during the winter months. Most leave by end of October and return in early to mid-March.

The great blue heron is mostly a colonial nester, occasionally they nest in single pairs. Colonies are typically found in lowland swamps, islands, upland hardwoods and forests adjacent to lakes, ponds and rivers. Nests are usually in trees and may be as high as 98 ft. (30 m) or more from the ground. The platform like nests are constructed out of medium-sized sticks and materials may be added throughout the nesting cycle. Nests are usually lined with finer twigs, leaves, grass, pine needles, moss, reeds, or dry gras. The same nests are refurbished and used year after year.

Most great blue herons return to southern Michigan heronries in mid-March although a few may remain through the winter if there are areas of open water. Courtship and nest building commences from early April in southern Michigan to early May in the extreme northern portions of the state. Both sexes are involved in the nest building process with males primarily gathering sticks from the ground, nearby trees, or ungarded nearby nests.

More about Great Blue Herons on Michigan in Pictures.

View Rodney’s photo background bigtacular and see more in his Birds slideshow.

 

Michigan in Pictures Top 5 for 2015

Posted on by farlane

It’s that time of year when I look back and try to remember what happened, a task that is made a lot easier by the nifty analytics provided by the good folks at WordPress.com (and the questionable folks at Facebook).

One thing that happened was the re-design of Michigan in Pictures to feature bigger photos, something that pretty much everyone seems to appreciate.

Honorable Mention is the consistently popular post Know Your Michigan Turtles. It was originally published in 2013 and continued to be the most consistently visited post on Michigan in Pictures in 2015. This year I featured the Spiny Soft-shell Turtle on World Tortoise Day and was even re-tweeted by American Tortoise Rescue, the amazing organization behind the day and worldwide turtle preservation. As a turtle fan, I find this awesome.

#5

Pere Marquette 1255

December 7th ~ How Pere Marquette 1225 inspired the Polar Express by Bob Gudas

Subtitle the story of how this iconic engine provided inspiration for the iconic children’s book by Michigan Author Chris Van Allsburg “Why it’s important to preserve our history.”

#4

SS Edmund Fitzgerald Underway

November 10th ~  The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald via Wikimedia Commons

If there’s a Michigan folk song that everyone knows, it’s Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Read about how he wrote it, watch the best darn video on the internet featuring this song, and marvel at the fact I can’t tell the difference between Walter Cronkite and Harry Reasoner.

#3

Ice Caves Return

January 13th ~  Ice Caves Return to Lake Michigan by Heather Higham

Two years ago, Lake Michigan’s ice caves blew up, drawing tens of thousands of people to the shores of Lake Michigan, and when they formed this year, Heather was there!

#2

Old Mission Storm Cloud

August 3rd ~  Jellyfish Stormfront by Tom Parrent

The crazy storm of early August 2015 devastated areas of Northern Lower Michigan including leveling acres and acres of trees in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and rendering the village of Glen Arbor inaccessible for days.

#1

Wreckage of the Rising Sun

April 20th ~  Coast Guard shares Manitou Passage shipwrecks from above by the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City

The top post of the year is this aerial photo of the 1917 wreck of the Rising Sun by a Traverse City based Coast Guard aircrew. Several more photos available at the link.

Thanks everyone for being a part of Michigan in Pictures in 2015!

Finally Friday: Michigan Morel Edition

Posted on by farlane

Finally Morels in Michigan

Finally, photo by Julie

Reports of morels are coming in from all across the state. They’ll be celebrating our delicious woodland friends this weekend (May 8-10) at the Mesick Mushroom Festival and next weekend (May 14-17) at the National Morel Mushroom Festival in Boyne City.

If you’re looking for Michigan morel photos and features, click that link for a ton from Michigan in Pictures. Happy hunting!!

Julie says these plus a few others will make a great topping for a ribeye! View the photo bigger and see more in her Spring/Summer slideshow.