One of the amazing things about the 16mm fisheye on my D700 is just how wide an image you can get. The D700 viewfinder does not show a 100% view and I was surprised when I was looking at my fisheye shots at just how much more information I had on the edges that what I saw in the frame. In the shot above, however, this wasn’t the case. The main subject of this shot is a mural painted on the wall of a building in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The mural was originally done in 1984 and the original artist was just in town to touch it up. Originally there was a bookstore located in the space above the mural, but has since moved to a different location. The mural depicts Woody Allen, Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Hesse, Franz Kafka, and Anaïs Nin.

he Michigan Central Depot in Detroit, Michigan is such a perfect analogue to the city of Detroit. It was once a beautiful place but it has been allowed to decay. The building has been threatened with demolition for years, but so far it remains standing. Some good things are happening, at least in the surrounding area. Private organizations are working to clean up the park in front of the station. In addition, they are buying up buildings and either demolishing or attempting to rehabilitate them, depending on their condition. The depot itself is a favorite location for film shoots and has been featured in movies such as ‘The Island’ and ‘Transformers’ among others. It’s a shame that the best feature of the building is it’s decay, but if it helps raise awareness about the building that is probably a good thing.

This is another shot of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan. While spending time on the island, I took a walk one morning hoping to get a morning shot of the hotel. The morning had been cloudy and rainy but as I left my hotel room the sky started to clear up. The island isn’t very big, particularly the ‘downtown’ area, so it didn’t take me long to walk from my hotel across town and up the hill to get to the Grand Hotel. I took a few shots as the sun came out from behind the clouds but I noticed that the flags which normally adorn the porch weren’t flying. Somehow it made the hotel look a little to plain. As I was shooting, I noticed these gentlemen starting to put the flags out on the porch. I thought it made for an interesting shot.

The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island is an impressive structure built by the Mackinac Island Hotel Company which was formed by a group including the Michigan Central Railroad, Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, and the Detroit and Cleveland Steamship Navigation Company. The idea was to promote tourism to the island in northern Michigan and encourage people to travel using the railroads and steamships of the owning companies. The hotel boasts the longest porch. Of course, these days you have to pay $10 to walk on the porch if you aren’t a guest of the hotel. The hotel maintains some quaint traditions, such as requiring gentlemen to wear coats after 6:30 pm and women to wear dresses or pant suits. Other than the expense, its one of the reasons I’ve never stayed there.

My wife and I have been visiting the Good Hart area in northern lower Michigan on and off for many years. We used to rent a house on Lake Michigan in an area known as Middle Village. Almost across the road from the house we rented was an old, decaying structure. It wasn’t until this year that I actually bothered to take some pictures of it. Given the state of decay I wouldn’t be surprised if the building is gone in the next few years. Middle Village itself was originally an Ottawa Indian village. A Jesuit Mission was established at Middle Village in 1741 and was rebuilt by Native Americans in 1823. A church, built in 1889 and a cemetary remain. The church is still used during the summer. Some additional information about the area can be found here.

I figured that after a series of asylum pictures it might be nice to do something completely different. This shot was taken a couple of years ago when my family and I returned from a trip. The picture shows the tunnel which connects Concourse C to the main McNamara Terminal at Detroit’s Metro Airport. The tunnel is quite interesting. There is ambient music playing in the background and they use continually change the color of the lights. There are two long moving sidewalks which pass by long panels of glass sculpture. It’s a really nice change of pace from the typical chaos found in airports.

This is another shot from the old Northern Michigan Asylum in Traverse City. The design of the building included fenced in porches at the end of each floors. I’m sure when the asylum was open they would wheel patients out here for some air, but that’s just speculation. To take this shot I backed as far as I could into the corner of the porch. With the colorful graffiti, my plan was to take enough shots for an HDR to emphasize the color.

Traverse City, Michigan used to be the home of the state mental hospital once known as the Northern Michigan Asylum for the Insane. The hospital closed in 1989 and the buildings on the campus sat dormant. Recently there has been a push to repurpose the site as a combination of retail, housing and offices. The development is known as Traverse City Commons. Portions of the site have been renovated and the result is very interesting. Much of the site remains to be developed, however. The shot above shows one of the original buildings which has yet to be renovated. It retains much of its Victorian creepiness. While the place makes me wonder what went on during its years as an insane asylum, the history of this facility seems to indicate that it was rather progressive in its approach to treatment. Still, I see this place and all I can think of is ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’.

My wife and I are taking a short vacation in northern lower Michigan. We just spent a couple of days on Mackinac Island, a place with no cars and limited internet. The island has a wonderful collection of Victorian ‘cottages’, some of which are larger that most people’s houses. I took this shot on a short walk I took one late afternoon. I noticed this red rocking chair on the porch and I liked how it looked against the primarily white and black background.

Years ago, in the late 60’s and early 70’s, an artist by the name of Doug Tyler painted several barns in Southeastern Michigan. His work included the Mona Lisa, Eisan’s ‘Standing Woman’, John Copley’s ‘Paul Revere’ and the one you see above, ‘Castiglione’ by Raphael. This barn, which unfortunately no longer exists, was located on US-23 north of Ann Arbor, Michigan. I used to see this barn, and the Paul Revere barn which was on the other side of the highway, on a regular basis as I drove US-23 between my hometown of Saginaw and Ann Arbor to attend college.