I seem to have found yet another home away from home. Emmet county is up in the northern part of Michigan. I was first introduced to this beautiful part of the United States in 2012 at Photostock. Photostock, the brainchild of world-renowned photographer Bill Schwab is a gathering of photographers in his backyard. And in its early years, it was literally in his backyard, but by the time I started going, it had moved to the Birchwood Inn; this throw-back backwoods hotel would make you think you had stepped back into the 1960s. I have written about Photostock before, but this time it’s different. PhotostockRead More →

Hull was worried, he had received word that Fort Mackinac had been taken by the British and that General Brock was heading west with reinforcements from York, but he continued to occupy Sandwich, despite the arrival of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Procter, commander of the 1st battalion 41st of Fort at Fort Amherstburg on the 26th of July ahead of General Brock. Procter had orders to disrupt the American supply lines to the south and isolate Hull and Fort Detroit. On the 4th of August, Hull received a message from Captain Brush in command of one such supply columns that had stopped at the settlement of FrenchtownRead More →

You may recognize this building from the 2006 film Transformers; this is Detroit’s massive Michigan Central Station. Designed in the Beaux-Arts Classical style with the interior lobby modelled after a Roman Bathhouse, complete with Doric columns. The station was completed in 1912, but the whole area wasn’t fully completed (including Roosevelt Park, from where I took this photo) until 1920. Costing $15,000,000 in 1912 to complete the station was never fully used. That’s right, the 18-story tower that rises above the actual station was never completed. The top several floors are not even furnished. But despite this, the station hosted more than 4,000 passengers dailyRead More →

Woodward Presbyterian Church, or rather St. Curvy, has a story like many churches that once thrived in the American mid-west. Founded in 1908 with a membership of 163, it was tasked to serve the north part of the city. With the Reverend Sherman L. Divine at the helm, the church began to seek money and land to build their church. The land the church still sits on today was donated by Mrs. Tracy McGregor. The firm of Sidney Rose Badgley & William Nicklas was hired to design the church. Construction began late in 1908, and by the time the cornerstone was laid on the 1stRead More →

How does one review a film they have only used once? Easy, when the film is something special. Eastman SO-331 High Contrast Intermediate Panchromatic Film is one of those rare cult films that have been floating around for a while. The SO in the name indicates that it is a special order emulsion. And it has developed a rather unique following among the film photography community. Back in October when I was in New York City for the PhotoPlus Expo I was handed a roll of the film by Michael Raso of the Film Photography Podcast (who got a large amount of the stock fromRead More →

I was remiss in posting about this year’s Photostock back in June! As with last year, it was a fantastic time, more so for me this year, as I stayed at the Birchwood to party it up with the group late into the night. Late nights and early mornings. Three things make Photostock great. The Place, the People, and the Community. So the photos I took reflect the first two items, the Place and the People. The third one can be shown in the photos. However, video drives the point home. This group of photographers shoots a wide range of cameras and techniques, yet weRead More →

After the fall of Detroit to General Brock in the summer of 1812 the British moved quickly to establish a beachhead in the northwest to ensure the security of Upper Canada, and to hold the territory to fulfill a promise to their native allies that it would become their own country at the end of the war (should the British win). The capture of Detroit also put a halt to the planned invasion of Upper Canada from the west. President Madison replaced General Hull as the commander of the Army of the Northwest for the near bloodless capture of Detroit. He first put General WinchesterRead More →

The key to photostock was not the location, or the trips, the food, the road…but rather…the people. No one looked down on anyone, everyone helped out eachother, talk, shoot the breeze, drink. It just felt comfortable, especally for me, a first time participant in the event, I knew…one other person who was going, Mat. But in hte end it didn’t really matter I was welcomed be open arms. The People of Photostock 2012 If you want to see all the Photostock Images, head on over to Flickr!. How many days until Photostock again?Read More →

Ontario is beautiful, there’s no changing that, but sometimes you leave and go someplace else and only find that the same beauty you so like in the north can be found elsewhere, that’s exactly how I felt when I drove through Northern Michigan. I feel the state gets a bad rap because of places like Detroit and Flint (New Jersey is the same way), but there is incredable beauty to be found in the northern part of the state. You will be treated to miles of wooded areas, quant villages, friendly people, and sunsets…well sunsets. The beach and port at Cross Village. A quick stop,Read More →

Agh, I’ve been remiss in posting more from the Photostock Event back in June of this year, and for that, I apologize, but things went straight down the tubes after Photostock, and I’ve been running at a million kilometres per hour since, and still haven’t stopped. But anyways, I’ll get some more Photostock up here this week. Anyways onto the actual content. The M119 is a unique road; it’s classified as a state highway but is far from it; a national historic scenic route runs from just outside the village of Harbor Springs to Cross Village, at Photostock I took the opportunity to drive theRead More →