The image above is the old Pere Marquette train station located on Potter Street. Like many train stations in the midwest, this one is just rotting away. A few years ago there were people who were trying to find ways to restore the station, but I’m don’t know whether anyone is still trying. The station sits in one of the worst parts of Saginaw. It’s not a place that would tend to attract a lot of people and I just can’t see anyone investing money in this place unless the surrounding neighborhood was also improved. It’s a shame because the building is really quite nice.

On my recent excursion to Greenfield Village I made a stop next door at the Henry Ford Museum to shoot some of the indoor exhibits. One of the more impressive sights when you enter the main entrance is this Northwest Airlines DC-3 aircraft suspended from the ceiling. The Henry Ford Museum does not have a large collection of aircraft, but it does have a handful of interesting and historically significant aircraft in its collection.

I’ve only got a couple more days before I have to send my lens rental back so I took advantage of the wonderful weather we had this weekend to once again visit Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. The day started out somewhat cloudy, but the temperature was pleasant and as the afternoon wore on, the clouds moved on. As I was walking by this building I noticed that the clouds were starting to break up and make some interesting formations. The sun was also getting lower in the sky and was adding some additional warmth to the building. I had been shooting with a longer lens, but I decided to switch back to the fisheye to see what I might be able to capture.

This is another in a series of HDR images that I shot at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Once again the location was the Armington & Sims machine shop. I love the look of the old, oiled, metal of the vintage machinery. I think this type of material really works well with HDR. My goal was to really focus in on one element of the machine, in this case a crank handle, possibly used to operate a vise-like component, but I’m not sure. In comparison with one of the ‘as-shot’ images, I think this shot really brings out the details.

The Armington & Sims machine shop at Greenfield Village is a great place for lovers of old tools and machinery. I also like the variety of old wooden items they have in the shop. This picture shows a cabinet which is used to contain a variety of small parts. The cabinet sits behind a railing which made it tricky to get a good shot.

The Armington & Sims machine shop in Greenfield Village was built in 1929. It was named after a maker of steam engines in Providence, Rhode Island. The building houses a working machine shop which would have been used as a ‘job’ shop to build and repair various parts for industry. The shop was originally powered by steam, with the steam engine sending its power to the machinery via a system of belts and pulleys. If you look near the top of the image, you can see a series of pulley wheels and their belts which power the machines to the right. Today the shop it powered by electricity. While primarily an exhibit of what a machine shop would have been like in the day, the shop is still used to produce parts for items needed in the village and museum.

As promised yesterday, here is the black and white version of yesterday’s color HDR of the Detroit & Mackinac Caboose from Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Processing was quite simple. I took the image produced by Photomatix into Photoshop and ran Topaz Adjust to increase clarity. I then used Silver Efex Pro to convert the image to black and white. I went with a film style with little grain and added a bit of a vignette. I finished it off with a light sepia tone.

On a recent quest to try out a new Nikon lens (the 28-300) and to visit places that might make for interesting HDR images, I visited Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. As I mentioned in my previous post, Greenfield Village was created by Henry Ford to celebrate American industry and achievements. The image above was taken in the DT&M Roundhouse. I believe the railroad car in the picture is a caboose from the Detroit and Mackinac railroad.

Taking inspiration from Dave Wilson, Bob Lussier, Brian Matiash, Jacques Gudé and others, I decided to go out this weekend and find some interestis generally nice to shoot as well. I happen to be a member of the Henry Ford Museum which has a great collection of old artifacts, mostly relating to manufacturing. Part of the museum membership also includes Greenfield Village, which is a historical village created by Henry Ford to maintain items of historical significance to American industry.

his is an interior shot taken at the Northern Michigan Asylum in Traverse City, Michigan. The asylum consisted of several buildings, some of which are currently under renovation for commercial use. Many of the buildings are still in rough shape, including this one. I was able to get a shot of the interior by sticking my camera through a missing window pane. While taking the picture I could feel a breeze on my face as wind blew through the building. There was a very distinctive old and musty smell to the air.