A Study In Motion

I decided to play around a bit the other day at Greenfield Village with my adjustable neutral density filter and tripod to take some longer exposure photos.  The neutral density filter lets me limit the light coming into the lens while not affecting the colors captured in the photo.  With the help of a tripod to keep the camera steady I can dial up the darkness of the filter and lengthen time the shutter is open.  This allows for the blurring of anything moving across the field of view when the shutter is open.  The top photo is of the carousel at Greenfield Village.  The two bottom photographs I captured of the steam engine leaving the station and the platform by the main entrance.  In hindsight, I should have used just a tad bit faster shutter speed on the bottom photos to catch a bit more of the outline of the train.

At The Crossroads

Greenfield Village - Dearborn, Michigan

Ivy Covered Window

Cotswold Cottage, Greenfield Village - Dearborn, Michigan

Horsin' Around

While I have never been a big fan of horses, I could not help but photograph these two carriage horses, "Abraham" and "Lincoln", at Greenfield Village.

Neon At Henry Ford Museum

I love neon signs and was happy to see that the Henry Ford Museum has a couple of its big neon signs back up and running.  They had been dark the last time we visited due to, as I assume, the ongoing renovations to their main exhibit.

Teasels

Old Barns

 A couple old barns in rural Clinton County, Michigan.

Limited Harvest

I have to admit that I put no effort into a garden this summer.  We have been so busy this year and I never even got around to planting anything.  However, the tomatoes seeded themselves again and I had a few tomato plants.  The tomatoes are not very big and I only have about two dozen that will mature, but that is pretty good for no effort.  I also have a few jalapeno plants laden with peppers.  My brother-in-law had extra pepper plants, so I planted them.  Maybe next year I shall put some more work into my garden.

Dew Soaked Leaf

I photographed this dew soaked leaf up north at the cabin this weekend.  Most of the dew had burnt off by the time I photographed this, but this leaf had been nestled under some other leaves and had not dried ike the others.

Tree Frog

When taping some video for the HSGL cemetery walk on Sunday, I realized I had several photos of a tree frog I photographed on my mother's deck railing about a month ago still on the memory card.  I am not a big reptile admirer, but these little guys are quite unique.  Even its eyes has a certain level of camouflage to them.

Make It Count

I photographed these abacus beads the other night at the Gunnisonville School.  Someday I need to learn how to use an abacus.  The store clerks and merchants in Russia when I lived there in 1993-94 still used abacuses to calculate change, many times eschewing the cash register next to them that would calculate it automatically.  It impressed me how quickly they could figure large number by counting those simple beads.

Once In A...

Okay, the "blue moon" tonight was not really blue - that was just me playing with the colors.  However, tonight's blue moon is the only full moon this month.  I always thought that a blue moon is the second full moon in a month.  It seems that in reality, the blue moon is the third full moon in a season (i.e. spring, summer, etc.) that has four full moons.  Allegedly, a misinterpretation in 1943 of an old farmers' almanac gave us the "two-full-moons-in-a-month" definition of blue moon that has stuck around in popular culture.  The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting story about the blue moon: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0820/Blue-moon-Five-amazing-facts.

One Room Schoolhouse

Gunnisonville School - Near Dewitt, Michigan

Late Summer Shadows

I have found that cemeteries are some of the most interesting places to photograph.  Many old cemeteries in big cities have very ornate stones commemorating the once important citizens of yesteryear.  Other cemeteries, like the Gunnisonville Cemetery near Dewitt, Michigan, have simpler stones for the simpler folks that lived there once.  The angle of the sunset on these stones made for a dramatic photo last week when I was there with Valerie as she prepared for the historical society's cemetery walk.  The late summer shadows in the evening are starting to come at an angle that signal the days are getting shorter and winter will soon arrive - very apropos for a cemetery.

Black & White Garden

Downtown Lansing Night Panorama

To view the full-size version of this panorama, click here.

Old Town Neon

Scrap Metal Masterpieces

Whilst walking through Old Town on Sunday photographing some old buildings for a project, I happened upon the scrap metal sculptures outside of Friedland Industries' headquarters on Maple Street.  Someone with a lot of imagination and skill with a welder had fun making these works of art out of the scrap metal that people bring to Friedland to recycle.  My favorite by far was the rusty replica of the Millennium Falcon from the original Star Wars trilogy, which I found apropos given the ship's state of disrepair in the movies.

Swamp Milkweed

Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

Metallic Butterfly

The Bronze Copper butterfly (Lycaena hyllus) is the member of a family of butterflies called "Coppers", named for their orange and copper colored upper wings.  While not a rare butterfly by any means, I have only seen these at the Maple River State Game Area, north of St. Johns on US-127.

To The Point

Seed Pod from a Velvetleaf Plant (Abutilon theophrasti)

Bright Blossom

Spider Web

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web."
                                    - Pablo Picasso

Tiny Butterfly

One of the tiniest butterflies you can see in Michigan is the Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta).  Butterfly experts still debate whether the Summer Azure and the Spring Azure are separate species or two different subspecies.  The Spring Azure is often one of the very first butterflies you will encounter in the early spring.  The two species do have slightly different coloring on the upper side of their wings, but most people never get the chance to see them as they keep their wings firmly closed when they perch.  I have tried for several years to find an Azure with its wings open to photograph the bright blue on its upper wings.  These butterflies have a wingspan of no more than one inch but most do not exceed three-quarters-of-an-inch.  Being so small, most go unnoticed by people that are not intentionally looking for them.

Abandoned Harrow

While visiting my grandmother on Sunday, I came across an old spring tooth harrow plow someone abandoned many years ago.  I imagined that the rusty curved tines looked sort of like the ribcage of large animal that had seen better days.

Old Ottawa Power Plant

Last Friday night I took some long exposure photographs of the former Lansing Board of Water &Light Ottawa Street Power Station, now the headquarters for the Accident Fund insurance company.  Construction on the building began in 1937 and culminated two years later.  At one time a smoke stack and big neon "Board of Water & Light" letters topped the building.  They were removed in 2007.  You can see a series of photos showing the stack removal below.