A Marquette Trip... Trip 35, that is.

You can tell that I really enjoy using my Olympus Trip 35, since I have blogged about it so many times.   The camera, for all its simplicity of use, never fails to produce images that I like.  It remains one of my favorite cameras, and is perfect for quick shots when you want very little between you and the subject.  So long as you have your zone focus set, the camera does the rest.  After shooting many rolls of film with it, I think ISO 200 film works out the best in most situations.   Eastman 5222 for b&w, and lately, Kodak Profoto 200 color film.

Last week I finally got down to working on my backlog of C-41 rolls.  Some of them dated from the middle of 2017.  My Unicolor C-41 kit from the Film Photography project store had been freshly prepared, and my new Sous Vide stick pod immersion heater (I will feature this in my next post) kept all the temps at precisely 102 degrees F, making development go much more smoothly with less use of water.  One of the rolls was from my trip to Marquette, MI in late June of 2017, shot with my Trip 35.  I had forgotten about taking that camera, and the delayed joy of seeing the images was a real treat.

Downtown Marquette is a great place to shop

Walking around with the Trip 35 on a hot sunny day in Marquette was a perfect combination.  The camera handled the situations well, of course aided by the great latitude of the film. The one thing about the Trip 35 is that it has two shutter speeds - 1/30th and 1/200th sec.  So long as you don't get too far out of the camera's "comfort zone" you will have great results. I see the Trip 35 as one of those cameras that become a trusted tool the more you use it.

Look carefully.  Marquette in the distance, and my daughter rock-hunting on the
beach in the foreground.

Marquette's classic Post Office

Alley Cat

I often find the backsides of buildings far more interesting.

Peeking through the alley

A lot of sandstone was used in building 

Art in a public space

Just a beauty of a day

Getzs is the place to shop if you want to blow your budget

More backsides

More backsides

unexpected giraffe

A visit here is a great way to relax and have a good brew.

The film was developed at home in my Unicolor C-41 kit, and the film scanned in my Epson V700 scanner.  Minor adjustments were made in the images. 

Back from Marquette, MI

My wife and I took a short vacation in the Upper Peninsula to visit our daughters, and while we were only there for 4 days, I made a point to get out and do some photography.  Normally, I would paack a few bags -- one with a Nikon DSLR and  bags with some film cameras. This time, I only brought film cameras and my iPhone SE.  Some of my shots on film were made after I did a version on my iPhone to see how it would look in b&w, for instance.  Aside from that, the camera phone is a creative tool, and I enjoyed seeing what I could get with it.  My arsenal was 2 Nikon FMs, Pentax 6x7, Leica M2, Olympus Trip 35, Ondu 6x9 pinhole camera, and my Canon AW-1.  The Ondu got to shoot Reany Falls, and I look forward to seeing how those negatives come out. The weather had its moments, as Sunday morning was cool and wet, with some fog.  It felt more like September than June, but that's why I love the UP.  The weather can change quickly, and it is rarely dull along Lake Superior.  On the other hand, I saw a most glorious sunrise while out walking on Friday morning. The Iron Ore Heritage Trail that runs from Harvey through Marquette is right along the lake shore, and offers a fantastic view.

sunrise!

While at Black Rocks in the fog and mist, I shot two rolls with my Pentax 6x7.  It will be interesting to see how they come out.  Here are some iPhone shots while I was out on the rocks.    It is a very special place to photograph.  I always enjoy going there, and the many moods of Lake Superior cast a different aspect each time.

A week along the AuTrain

6-8 foot waves in AuTrain Bay

Reany Creek after the rains.

I am back from a week-long stay in AuTrain, MI.  If you are unaware of where that is, it's sort of in the middle of the Upper Peninsula, about 30 miles E of Marquette.  The AuTrain River empties into Lake Superior in AuTrain Bay, and I have photographed that particular spot numerous times over the years.  Changing lake levels keep the channel into Lake Superior in an unpredictable state.  When we arrived on the 20th, fierce storms had produced huge waves all along the coast, and by the evening of the 22, the lake had calmed.  We visited my daughter and daughter-in-law in Marquette, and were treated to some awesome scenes along Reany Creek, which empties into the dead River.  I shot lots of waterfalls through the week, and did a little macro work, and some street shooting in Marquette.  It was a great break from work, and quite relaxing to stay in a small cabin, being able to make meals, etc., and not in a motel.  Adrienne and I had a nice dinner in the Brownstone Inn along M-28, just a couple of miles from AuTrain.  Now that we are back, I have some film to develop. My most used film was Kentmere 100, but as you can see, I had quite a bit of variety.

I also shot quite a bit of digital with my trusty Nikon D200 and a bag of lenses. The camera phone  of course, was a good way to document our travel, if only to put a few things up on Instagram.
One of the things in the Upper Peninsula is that cell phone service isn't always good.   Keeping a charger cable in the car is a good idea to keep your phone from running down if it is searching for a signal much of the day.

One of my favorite places to shoot under various types of weather is Black Rocks on Presque Isle.  This time, it was an overcast day with some light rain, which really made for some good photography this time around.

Black Rocks

lots of sky along Lake Superior!

a much calmer lake a few days after the storm

Great Lakes beaches are hard to beat.

I did a little macro, too.  A male Polistes dominulus. The 60mm micro-Nikkor is a gem of a lens.

I have only been home a little over 24 hours and I miss the UP already.  I love the skies, the weather changes, the shoreline, the rocks, the people, and the smell of the woods.  I have been going there for over 30 years, and each time I come back, I have new memories and an anticipation of another trip. When I process my many rolls of film, I'll show some new work from AuTrain Bay.

Marquette Never Disappoints Me

Four pines, Presque Isle

I was away for a few days in Marquette, Michigan, where my daughter and daughter-in-law live.  It was a short visit, but still I managed to come away with some nice images that I am happy with.  Although I am not a native Michigander, I have lived here since 1981.  I grew up in the Adirondack region of New York, so the Upper Peninsula is very home-like to me, except that Lake Superior and Lake Michigan- Lake Huron surround much of the UP.  Also, much of the UP is pretty flat, and the old, granitic hills in the UP cannot compare with the Adirondacks.  However, it's the combined effect of the Great Lakes and the land that make the UP something wonderful, and Marquette sits at the edge of Lake Superior.  Presque Isle Park is a gem, offering fantastic views of the lake and the surrounding hills.   I never get tired of driving out to the park and doing photography.  No two days are alike.  I feel empowered by the beauty of nature there, alive, and invigorated, and yet, the grandeur can make me feel insignificant.    The drive back home to Ann Arbor is always somewhat melancholy, as I immediately miss being there.  I have been going to Marquette County  since the early 1980s, and the place has a hold on my heart.   Maybe one of these days Adrienne and I will move there and make it our home.  It's sure hard to say no.

the view from Marquette Mountain

morning clouds and waves at Presque Isle

It's All in the Bag

Sometimes I over think about packing camera gear for a trip, and sometimes I don't think enough about what I should bring.  My wife and I were going for a 5 day trip to Marquette, meaning 2 of those days would be mostly traveling from Ann Arbor to Marquette and back - a minimum of 8 hours each way, and we would be visiting our daughter and her partner.  So, I packed fairly light - two film camera bags + my Nikon 1 in a small bag.  For film cameras, I chose my Nikon FE and added a Nikon EM as a backup + various lenses in one bag.  In the other, my leica M2 with the 35mm 1.4 lens and my Yashica A TLR.  At the last minute I threw on a small Yashica microtec 70 P&S.   Yes, I used all the cameras except for the backup Nikon.  I mostly shot b&w, and hope to develop the film this week.

 The lenses I chose for the Nikon reflect my typical interest -- landscapes, architecture and nature. So, I chose a 24mm 2.8, 55 mm Micro-Nikkor, 50mm 1.4, 105mm 2.5, and 35-135 Tokina zoom that I recently purchased. A selection of filters - Red, Yellow, Orange, ND4, Polarizer,  split  graduated ND filter, and one close-up diopter were all that I needed. I mostly used the Polarizer and the Orange filter.  A small flash, cable release, lens brush, extra batteries, and business cards pretty much fill the Tamrac bag.
In the second bag, The Yashica A and the Leica M2, my new Sekonic light meter, film, cable release are pretty much it.

I later added the Yashica Microtec to finish up the roll of film that was in it.

In all, I shot about 10 rolls over the course of the 5 days -- and did a lot more shooting with the Leica than I expected I would.  The Nikon 1 got a fair amount of use, as well -- and it has proven to be a reliable and quality travel camera.  What I didn't bring is just as noteworthy.  I didn't bring the Mamiya C330, nor my DSLR bag, nor the Pentax 6x7 or the F100, etc.  I kept things pretty simple, and it pays off in working better with a small amount of gear.
I'll close with a cliche sunset shot from Preque Isle, one of my favorite places to shoot in Marquette. It was taken with my Nikon 1J1 on a carbon-fiber tripod, .5 sec at f/16, ISO 100 -.3 compensation, with the 10-30mm zoom at 30mm.

Fruits of Labor

"Why do we photograph?" Is a good question. It calls into play a lot of reasons, some of which involve the documentary nature of photography. To convey an event through our eyes. To share what we see, how we felt, what we did, so that we won't forget, so that others won't forget, and so on. It's not necessary to defend why we do it. We just do, and sometimes events unfold that justify whatever reasons we had for hoisting that camera.
For a number of years, from 1984-2002, I spent a week or so at the Huron Mountain Club, NW of Marquette, MI, doing entomological research. A number of papers were published on the insects that I worked on, and I'm quite happy with what I did there. I also carried a camera with me out in the field just about every day. In the 1980s it was a Pentax MG, and in the 1990s and 2000s, I used Nikons and several medium-format cameras. Some of the images I took later on were related to my research, but many were not, as I knew that my time there was coming to an end, and I wanted to document some of the beauty of a place that very few people outside of Huron Mountain Club members and researchers (working under the auspices of the Huron Mountain Wildlife Foundation) get to see.
Some of my images were placed online on my Flickr account to share. Last year, I was contacted by History Works, Inc. to use some of my images for a book documenting the history of the Huron Mountain Wildlife Foundation and the research that has taken place there. I was happy to donate a number of images, and finally, today, I received a copy of the book in the mail. Having one of my photos grace the cover was proof to me that all the shots I took of Ives Lake were worth the effort. I was never content to just get one shot, to document that I was there. As anyone knows that photographs seriously, you go back to some spots to shoot repeatedly because there is always the chance to get a better image than you did before, to capture something a bit different. So it was with this image. One thing I did notice when providing images for the author -- my photography greatly improved after 2000, when I began taking it seriously and thinking about what and how I was shooting. Those later images comprise most of my photos in the book.

I have over 15 photographs in the book and it's really great to see them in printed form-- a better venue than sitting closed up in the file cabinet inside sheet after sheet of slide pages.

A gem of a show - Accidental Mysteries at NMU

From Random Camera Blog

Last weekend Adrienne and I drove up to Marquette to visit our daughter Marjorie, now a junior in the Art & Design School at NMU. We did a lot of driving around and a lot of photography, which I'll discuss in another post. Marjorie told me about the new exhibit at the DeVos Art Museum at NMU, titled "Accidental Mysteries." It's one well-done show on "vernacular photography." Many of the images were very memorable, some quite equal to something we might expect from some famous photographers. However, all of these were shot by unknown photographers from the past, when simple box and folding cameras produced the majority of images by the masses. Some of the images have been digitally enlarged - to stunning effect. The show write-up from NMU states:
"Accidental Mysteries, originally exhibited at the Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis, Missouri in 2005, is a unique collection of found photographs collected by John and Teenuh Foster. Over ninety images are on display in the exhibition, selected from a collection of hundreds, found over the years in flea markets, antique shops and auctions."

For collectors of snapshots, the photos presented are real gems. Many exhibited a degree of forethought that separates them from the run-of-the snapshot in an old family album. Well-mounted and displayed, the images in the exhibit were a delight to pore over. I found myself laughing and sometimes amazed at some of the details in the photos that gave me an appreciation for the labor it took to choose the images for the exhibit.

From Random Camera Blog

Vernacular photography is an interesting concept from the art world. I'm not sure I can come up with a better term at the moment, but the exhibit, which runs until November 15 is worth seeing if you are going to be anywhere in the Upper Peninsula. Northern Michigan University is a fine school, and the DeVos Art Museum is a gem for sure. The museum has featured a number of excellent exhibits, and though it may be small, the exhibits are wonderfully curated. The Accidental Mysteries exhibit is one that I'd love to see in the Ann Arbor area!

From Random Camera Blog

Particulars:
DeVos Art Museum
Northern Michigan University
1401 Presque Isle Ave.
Marquette, MI 49855
906-227-1481

The DeVos Art Museum is open every day, but check their web site for specific times.

Also, check out the Accidental Mysteries Web Site!

The UP is Where I Want To Be

On Wednesday, Marjorie, Adrienne and I drove N to get Marjorie back to school at NMU for her second year. We took two vehicles, this time. Marjorie drove her Jeep filled with most the stuff she needed for her dorm room, and either Adrienne and I drove the little Echo that had more of Mo's stuff and our own belongings for a 4 day trip. The drive up went great, and Marjorie got all her stuff moved into the dorm in about 45 minutes. That gave Adrienne and me a lot more time to do other things around Marquette, including the three of us going back to the Huron Mountain Club on Friday, where we shot a ton of images.
Sunset and Little Presque Isle from Presque Isle Park.


While I was there, I reflected in why I like the Upper Peninsula so much, especially Marquette. For one, the natural beauty of the place is amazing. The Lake Superior shore is ever-changing, and the weather never fails to be interesting. Marquette is a moderate-sized city blessed with a mixture of old and new, and the downtown is active. They have several bookstores, coffeeshops, art places, and no pretentiousness. The NMU campus has a nice art museum, lots of nice facilities, and a commitment to providing a good undergraduate education and learning environment, not the mega-sport, mega-money, and megalopolis that UM has become. Outside Marquette, of course, there are all sorts of interesting places, and much of the area reminds me a lot of growing up in the Adirondacks, with the addition of the Great Lakes being nearby. Some of the area is gritty, a reminder that not everyone has an office job or works for a University. Oh, and there are a lot fewer people around.
Mountain Stream Falls in the Huron Mountain Club

So, whenever I spend a few days in Marquette and anywhere in the UP, coming back to Ann Arbor is always a bit of a downer for a day or two. As much as I like it here, and I do, I think Marquette would be the place that makes me whole.

It was nice making a day of it at the Huron Mountain Club. I had not been there since 2003, when I went up to receive an award for research done there. This time, we went to see how things were going and to photograph some places that I wanted more, and better photos of. The Jeep got us up to Mountain Stream Falls really quickly, and the rough road there was a good baptism for the Jeep. I wish I had used one when I was doing research there before -- it would have enabled me to get to many more sites in day.