I was going through some older images the other day when I ran across this one which I had taken a couple of years ago. I posted a different angle of the same building here. I decided that I liked this angle as well, especially because of the writing on the side of the building, so I thought I would work with the image to see if I could come up with something I liked.

This shot shows the old generator building for the Peninsula Paper Company of Ypsilanti, Michigan. The company closed years ago and the factory was demolished to make way for some apartments. I shot this shot of the old hydroelectric generator building from the site of the old paper factory. It was late in the day and I tried to get to this location before the sun set.

I’ve been finding it difficult to get out and shoot new material for a variety of reasons, but today was such a nice day I decided to make an effort to get out and at least shoot something. I decided to take a short drive into Detroit to check out the progress on the Michigan Central Station. The owners are finally doing something to at least stabilize the building. Mostly this involves tightening security around the station to keep people out, removing the broken windows and putting in new windows, and working on the roof. Progress is slow, but they have definitely made some progress at least regarding the windows on the lower level. They haven’t actually replaced any that I could see, but they have removed the broken glass.

The ore dock in Marquette, Michigan is a pretty imposing structure. It’s probably at least two freighters in length and is this lovely mass of repeating concrete and metal elements. I took several shots, some wide, and some close-up. For this image, I shot 5 exposures to use for an HDR image since I thought that the HDR might really bring out the character in the concrete and metal. When processing, I also worked on a black and white version which I might post either here or on my 500px page. I think black and white works really well with this shot to give it an industrial look, but I like the look and color of the rusty concrete in the color version.

This is another shot of the abandoned (?) bus I found parked in a junkyard just outside of Defiance, Ohio. The image was created from 5 handheld exposures and which were merged together in Photomatix (see below) and then given additional processing using PhotoTools.

As I was driving to Defiance, Ohio, I saw a sign for ‘Independence Dam’. I thought that might be interesting so I took a short trip on a side road which ran along the Maumee (I think) river. I didn’t make it to the dam because it was in a state park and I didn’t want to pay an admission fee. However, along the way I noticed this junk/repair yard which had this bus sitting out front. I just had to stop and take some pictures.

In yesterday’s image, I showed an old railroad building in Defiance, Ohio. Just a short distance away was this abandoned grain elevator. I thought the elevator would make for a nice HDR, so I fired off 7 exposures in various locations, this one being my favorite. Even though this is an HDR image, most of the look comes from work I did with OnOne’s Photo Tools. I was trying for a grungy image which would highlight the textures of the building, so I used a variety of layers, mostly from the HDR section, to give the image some more life.

I was just about done shooting for the day in Saginaw, Michigan, when I came across this old gas station. It surprised me because it sits on a fairly large lot and the station is so small that I would have figured this would have been torn down long ago. Growing up I used to come by this way almost every Sunday as my family went to church and I have no real memory of seeing it. Perhaps at the time it was just another gas station, or maybe it was some little shop of some kind that didn’t interest me. Anyway, I almost passed this up because I had packed up my photo gear and was preparing for the drive home, but I didn’t. While there wasn’t a lot of interesting stuff around the station, the station itself was sort of cool. I took several shots from different angles, and I ended up liking this one the best.

Anyone who grew up in Saginaw or spent any time living in the area, is probably familiar with the neon bunny on top of the Michigan Bean elevator. The lighted bunny has been a Saginaw fixture since it was first illuminated in 1947. From what I’ve read, the elevator is no longer in operation and the sign went dark in 1985. Fortunately a preservationist named Thomas Mudd, with support from Altrusa International obtained funding to get the sign lit once again in 1997.

Yesterday’s image showed the old Pere Marquette train station on Potter Street in Saginaw, Michigan. This shot was also taken on Potter Street, but shows an interesting building across the street from the station. The train station was built in 1881 and if you look at this picture, you will see that this building was built shortly thereafter in 1892. Looks like it would have been an interesting building in it’s day. I find the arched window area to be quite interesting. What I don’t understand is the ‘Car Wash’ references. Perhaps there is (was) something around back (I didn’t wander back to look). Another interesting aspect of the building is the yellow sign on the front of the building. It might be hard to read on the web page, but it says “Saginaw Arson Watch 2007 – This house is being watched, and so are you!!” This isn’t too surprising, in 1991 the train station was significantly damaged by a fire set by an arsonist.