The Lodge
The lodge at Tobermory, Ontario, offered a perfect view of Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay off the back patio. The way the light came into the main sitting room was perfect.
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Red Top Motor Inn
You want a great place to stay along Highway 17 in Ontario, along the Georgian Bay in Lake Huron? Give the Red Top Motor Inn a try.
It’s classic motor lodge, with vintage decorations, Centennial design, and a great dining area.
That’s what’s great about these roadside motels in Ontario: a ton of them have little restaurants attached, with great food.
Waking Light
Horton, Michigan
It’s getting to be that time of year where the sunrise is perfectly timed to my morning commute. From now through early September it will be great for photo making, like with this little shed on my neighborhood street.
This was one of those photos that I screeched to a halt in my car, pulled over, and crept through the trees to get the shot.
Ramshackle
Sure, there’s a bit of bravery needed to pull the car over and climb into an abandoned and nearly-collapsed shack on the edge of an overgrown tree farm.
And then you see the creep-tastic shrine someone made out of a skull and carcass bones.
But there’s also adventure, and the gnawing desire to see what’s inside the thing.
So it was that I climbed into this ramshackle little building, probably no more than 15 ft. by 30 ft., after passing if for many years along M-60 just east of Spring Arbor, Mich.
Cruise Night
Selections from Cruise Night in downtown Jackson, Mich.
This was one of the first times I took the Canon EOS M for a spin (ha!), shooting these fantastic classic cars. I came back that night and was super impressed. The level of detail and richness of the images was appealing.
But it was also a chance to explore things like chrome flourishes, and car colors you don’t see anymore.
County Fair Week
It’s county fair week here in Jackson.
Get your corn dog, head down to the midway, shop the cattle and livestock, and check your gut at the Tilt-a-Whirl.
People Behind the Event
Hot air jubilees, including the annual one in my hometown, are great for photography material. The colors, the shapes, the ambition.
But it’s hard not to fall into cliché. If you’ve seen one soaring balloon, you’ve probably seen them all. And unless you have an in-basket view, there’s only so much you can do from the ground.
It’s why I like focusing on the people behind the event – who puts these things together? What are their jobs? Is there any struggle?
Or, what if you took the colors away? And just focused on the shapes? Hence, this shot from just before sunset.
Burning Cathedral of the Summer
“I walk without flinching through the burning cathedral of the summer.” – Violette Leduc
Changing Summer Light
The summer light is changing here in late July. The sun is rising a little later, the light is a little more golden, and the mists are gathering in the low spots.
It’s been a weirdly cool summer. A few hot days, but mostly May-like temperatures.
The way the light bends around the field, through the tall grasses – it’s almost like September already.
Summer Breeze
Abandoned House – Albion, Michigan
Thanks to fellow photographer Matt Lockwood for the heads-up on this place. I’ve photographed the exterior before, but never the interior.
Fangorn Forest – Flowerpot Island
We take the ferry out to the island at a leisurely pace, seeing shipwrecks as we travel in Lake Huron, on a bright and sunny July day.
Things are different up here. There’s no sandy beaches, and the water is a degree or two above freezing. It’s just rock and water and wood. A peninsula jutting into the Georgian Bay, surrounding by little uninhabited rocky islands.
We get to Flowerpot Island, and there are tourists everywhere on the initial beach. Well-dressed Asian ladies and children scrambling over the limestone shore, into the freezing water.
But as you go deeper along the trails, away from the “flowerpots” that named the island, things are quieter. No screaming kids, no well-dressed Asian ladies. It’s just moss and rock and cedar trees.
And little trails of mottled light that reach the forest floor.
It reminded me of one of Tolkien’s forests, full of story. The trees here aren’t nearly as old as Fangorn because their roots can’t get a good grip on the limestone rock, and so they fall. No tree here is ancient.
They are hardy, though, and they grip to life through terrible winters and stiff winds from the lake.
The sunlight reaches the forest floor in patches, highlighting a felled tree here, or a moss-grown rock there. It’s dramatic, and on parts of the island no one ever sees it.
I had a lot of fun stopping at the more lovely light patches to grab a few photos. Shadow and light – the mix was addictive after hiking along the trails, and I had to stay in the back of our group so I didn’t hold anyone up.
It was worth it. The photos have a mystique to them. Places without people often do, and that’s why we go there.
