Meckley’s Flavor Fruit Farm is a local institution.
Think apple-cide-and-donuts orchard in the fall, and Meckley’s is the place to be.
But instead of trying to beat the gigantic crowd that gathers here in late September through October, we visited the farm in August to see the nearly-done apples and sunflowers in full bloom.
A warm summer night, the sun setting, and hard cider off the tap? Hard to beat in all its midwestern glory.
Labor Day weekend. South Haven, Michigan. Climbing the dunes along Lake Michigan.
So long, summertime.
Shot with Canon EOS M and 22mm f/2.
I moved around a lot as a kid, but I call Brooklyn, Michigan, my hometown. It’s the place I lived the longest, went to school the longest, and really grew up.
Brooklyn is a small village in southern Jackson County – the home of Michigan International Speedway, the Irish Hills, and Hometown Pizza, my first jobby-job through high school and even into college when I came home for breaks.
My family still lives in Brooklyn, but not in town, so I don’t get to see the village square every day like I used to. That’s why I took a hot August night, grabbed some pizza at Hometown, and hit Main Street for a photo walk using my trusty Canon 5D and 40mm f/2.8 lens.
Even though I feel like it’s the same-ol’, same-ol’ each year, our local county fair never disappoints.
Shot on a mixture of EF-M 22mm and 32mm, with the Canon M200.
Every two years.
From 2018 to now, we head up to Door County, Wisconsin, for our annual family summer vacation. With no better idea this year, we made our way back in July.
Some familiar sites, some brand new. Just in time for cherry season. And beautiful weather along Lake Michigan and Green Bay. Lucky us.
Greens and blues, reds and browns. Maritime cities and rural countryside. Beach days and quick day trips.
Along the way: memories.
Pentwater, Michigan, along Lake Michigan.
Shot on the OG Canon M with the EF-M 22mm lens.
We took the first day of August and hit the lake: paddleboards, swimming, and catching the last sunlight of the day.
From here, we’re off to Door County, Wisconsin, again for our summer holiday. That means more sunsets, more paddleboards, and more time on the water.
Gotta love summer in the upper Midwest.
Some random summer evening shots around the neighborhood.
Out on walks, I noticed a surprising number of barn-shaped sheds. The light around 7:30 PM hit just right.
Swimming and hiking and bonfiring.
Drinking and s’more’ing and eating some more’ing.
Finding the nature therapy you’ve long needed. Spending time with family. Introducing places like Mackinac Island to the kids, and bringing back memories with you on the ferry ride across Lake Michigan.
Climbing to the top of a 10-story lighthouse along Lake Huron. Braving the pouring rain or the biting mosquitos.
Grabbing your camera and capturing the last remaining light of a busy day.
It’s more than a checklist. These are all the elements of a great summer vacation.
Lately, I’ve had the itch to get out and shoot more. Sometimes, hobbies can come and go in waves – often depending on what else is going on in life. Right now feels like a crest, where I want go make more photos.
Saturday evening at Sandhill Crane Vineyards was a good chance to shoot. It was a lovely summer evening, with off and on clouds, and the sun was popping in and out of the clouds. As soon as it popped out during sunset, I took a walk around their mini festival to see what I could see.
And something different: I strapped a EF 28mm f/1.8 to my Canon EOS M, using the EF-to-M adapter, for a ~42mm field of view. 40mm tends to be my comfort zone. Even though the camera felt a little front-heavy, the FOV was perfect.
So was the light, and the setting, and the music and drinks all around.
My wife and I hit up mid-state New York to catch a Brandi Carlile concert in Bethel, the site of Woodstock.
We glamped and hit up some hiking in the Catskills while we were there. Pretty great to unzip the tent and see all this. Above shot on my Canon M, below on iPhone 13.
More to come from my film camera.
A continuation of my Door County, Wisconsin, series from this year’s summer holiday. This time, a few scenes from around the cabin in Idlewild.
And to finish up, a few random scenes. I always see something worth holding on to (besides cheese and cider) when we head north.
Until next time.
Kicking off a series of photos from our summer vacation spot: Door County, Wisconsin.
Yes, we’d been there in 2018 and 2020. We love the area so much that we went back this year for our family holiday.
Different cabin (the big one), different month (August instead of June/July), and different crowd (we brought the in-laws), but other than that, it was as spectacular as it always is.
I take a memory card’s worth of photos wherever we go. Above is a series of windows I saw along the way. Here are some natural spots:
More to come next week.
The county fair, just before sunset.
Turned down the exposure compensation and was pleasantly surprised at the image quality.
Needs more neon.
Enjoying a baseball game next to the Cuyahoga River.
(Shot on my iPhone 13 mini and edited in Darkroom.)
It’s been a year of new homes, with our family’s, and my dad purchasing a cabin in Hale, Michigan – in the northeast, close to Lake Huron.
We took Independence Day weekend and traveled there for the first time. It was our chance to get out of town, spend some summer days outside, and see a new place.
We found everything we were looking for in the pastoral scenery, the cool and clear lakes, and the natural beauty you find in northern Michigan.
I almost brought a film camera to fit the setting. After all, every 50 miles you go north you travel back in time 10 years. But that will have to wait. I didn’t want to fuss with film and settings and remembering how to use my Canon AE-1. I wanted to keep it simple.
Simple is good. That’s why we’re here.
Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin – looking forward to heading there again this year for our summer vacation.
More from around the new house.
We’re still getting settled, making this our home, these summer days.
Some things are coming back, and it feels good.
Even though our local county fair has a new layout, and even if I was a bit nervous being around so many people, I used the return of our fair as a photo walk.
Over the years, the county fair has been one of my favorite photography subjects: the bright colors, the summer haze, the motion, and the prime people watching. For one night, we did the family outing, and for the other night, I went by myself to concentrate on photography.
I took my trusty Canon 5D and three lenses – 20mm, 50mm, and 100mm – to add some variety. In the end, I wound up mostly using the reliable 50mm, but the 100mm allowed me to get some people shots from a (social) distance.
It was a hot, sweaty night, as it usually is in August, full of fried smells and flashing lights.
It’s all we ask for on holiday: a small, cozy cottage on a midwestern lake, somewhere quiet and isolated to land when our daily adventures are done.
