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.

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.