Wine Tasting

Wine tasting at the Traverse City Opera House.

Taco House

I'm not a big fan of pushing a business, but Taco House deserves some recognition. Before I was ever introduced to Taco Bell, it had always been Taco House, the local taqueria. A Taco House taco is just about everything that an authentic Mexican taco is not. It's almost its own taco genre. The standard issue taco has iceberg lettuce, cheese and slightly-seasoned beef, all fresh, and wrapped in a never-stale shell. It's about as American as a taco can be. I enjoy a good authentic taco, big time, but there's a lot to be said for a place that just makes awesome, fresh, tacos and doesn't ever change the recipe.

Boardman Fishing

This is the Boardman Dam in downtown TC. I saw the boy fishing, on the left of the frame (you can't see it but he has a fishing pole), as I was walking back to my car from an assignment. This scene resonated with me because I was doing the exact same thing, at the exact same place when I was the same general age as him. Friends and I would ride our bikes, with fishing rods in hand, and head down here to try our luck. Regardless of whether or not we caught fish, it was always fun.

Creature

While driving to another assignment, this arborvitae animal presented itself. I'm not exactly sure what it is. It's big and it was on the property of a horse farm. If it hadn't been trimmed in a while, I could see how possibly, at one time, it was a horse. My first reaction was, "Woah, someone carved a huge green wolf!" Maybe it's a large fox. Who knows. It is interesting though.

Garage Sale

She gets a white whicker table. He gets to use his truck. Everybody wins.

Cleaning Car

This was from yesterday's feature hunt. The car is an all original 1957 Ford Fairlane.

Payphone

A rarity. It would've been great to get a photo of someone actually talking on this phone but I didn't have the length of time it would've taken to wait.

Seagull

This is from today. One of the many native seagulls that inhabit the area.

Mingling

This is from a freelance assignment I did not last night in downtown Traverse City. The event was scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m., which it did, but social hour was from 6-7. The musician in the back was really good. I took this photo as I was standing in the back of the room and watching how people were interacting and moving. It won't win any awards, but what's funny is that sometimes, as a photographer, you'll look at a scene and gauge a lot of elements. I was looking at this scene and thinking in my head, "It's not super exciting, but if someone could walk toward the top left, it might make it a little better, visually." Then a fella came walking from right to left with a plate of food. So I took the photo as he was in a decent spot on the top left of the screen which helped complete the composition of people in the lower half of the frame. It reminds me of how there've been so many times where a great photo could have been made if only something would happen or change. Many photographers would be able to fill books of photos that were almost great, but fell just short for some reason; lack of focus, a person/people in the wrong spot, etc.

One man's junk

This is a "trail" located near Charlevoix. Walking through it was somewhat like walking into another era. It's funny how all these items that had been in this forest for so long, begin to blend in their surroundings which emphasize the orange, brown and white colors.

Boat

When this vessel first came into view, I thought, "What a bummer for the boat." This particular blue water craft was the only object in an entire field and here it sits facing a pristine lake, so close to the element it was designed to be enjoyed upon. After further thinking, I thought, "this is possibly the luckiest boat ever." There's a tree growing through the back seat and the registration sticker on the side is dated '1987'. What's left of the inside is rotting wood and piles of leaves and debris that could house about any creature, that would live in debris, native to the area. This would appear to be the boat's final location of rest. But instead of ending up in a graveyard, backyard, shipyard, junkyard or lake bottom, this boat gets an entire field to itself and is able to face a pristine lake.

Sky

Cedar Sign

The sign states "Reduce Speed" which would be a necessity to read the information on the signs. Some towns celebrate their athletic accomplishments. Cedar, MI celebrates the birthplace of the 1987 National Cherry Queen. Cedar is a great little town. It's a little ironic that a Cherry Queen is from there because Cedar is also home to the annual Polka Festival, which takes place at the same time as the Cherry Festival. Most of the locals who want to avoid the cherry-crazy mayhem head for Polka Fest.
I enjoy how the National Cherry Queen factoid is only matched by the Cedar-Maple City Lions Club and their meeting time... which is the 2nd & 4th Monday, 6:45, at the Lions Community Building.

Clothes Pin

Abandoned Schoolhouse

For something as old as this building, which appears to be an old schoolhouse, I was surprised at how well everything still looked. There's still a water pump in back and the doors are in relatively decent shape. A nice little fixer-upper.