Trip along the Detroit River

This picture was taken along the Detroit River by the Great Lakes Steel mill in River Rouge, MI. The tug boats are actually on a canel that runs off the Detroit River. The famous Zug Island is to the right and the bridge to the island is behind the tug boats. There is a huge freighter in the background beyond the bridge. Zug Island is a man made island and for years and years industrial waste was deposited on the island. Today the island is where huge coke ovens and blast furnaces churn out steel for Great Lakes Steel. There is also large amounts of coal stored there for the ovens. The tugs are used to move coal barges up and down the river.

The end of Fall isn't always bland just less colorful

As fall comes to an end and the leaves completely disappear there are still opportunities to find something colorful to shoot.

These photos were taken at Elmwood Cemetery.

It was a bright sunny day and most the leaves from the trees were on the ground. The few remaining leaves offered spots of color throughout the photo.

Happy Veteran's Day

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This is the Veteran's Day ceremonies at the Detroit Elmwood Cemetery honoring the Black and Native American fallen soldiers that have fought in all of America's wars and until recently have received little recognition.

Woodlawn Cemetery in the fall

One of my favorite places to photograph in the fall is Woodland Cemetery in Detroit. This is where Detroit's prominent citizens are interred. This Sunday morning was a great time to visit. It was close to 70 degrees and sunny. This makes my fourth year visiting this site.

Ford Dam & Huron river

The last few scenes of fall.


I took these photos this weekend along the Huron River and the Henry Ford Dam in Ypsilanti Township, MI. The dam was built by Henry Ford to provide power for the factory in Ypsilanti. Old Henry was ahead of his time. Ford did not want to depend solely on coal to power his many plants. He build plants in what was the country back in the 1930’s and that allowed the local farmers to continue working their farms while working at the plants. Ford Lake, located off I-94 by the Ypsilanti exit, was created by damming the Huron River.

I photographed an alien!!

Here it is a few days after Halloween and I convinced the grandkids that secretly their grandmother was an alien. A few days ago I talked about a process known as High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. HDR is a process where you take three photos of an object and merge them into a single photo. This process creates a very detailed picture. Much more detailed than any one of the single photos. Well today I decided to play with this process on a flower arrangement the wife had on the counter. So while she was reading papers in the background at the kitchen table I was taking the photo. When I process the pictures using the HDR process you could see a blurred image of the wife with three arms. You see the process works if the objects are still. In this case the flower and vase was still but the wife was moving her arms in the background. So if you look closely you can see she has 3 limbs.

FA-14 Superhornet fly over the Detroit River

It was beautiful July day and I had wanted to go to Belle Isle to shoot the hydroplanes during the time trials and this was the last day to see them for free. Wanted to take the grandsons but they had their own plans so I threw my camera equipment in the saddlebag of my Harley and rode off to Belle Isle by myself. I didn’t have much time because I had plans for the evening so the intention was to go take some quick pictures and get back. When I arrived at Belle Isle the hydroplanes were in between heats and all the boats were out of the water. I waited for about an hour and when it didn’t seem that there was going to be another run soon I decided to leave. As I was coming to the bridge over the Detroit River I heard a roar in the sky and I quickly saw a jet streak across the river at tree top level. So I pulled over to see what was going on and was about to leave again when it streaked passed me a second time. Now I wondered if it would do it a third time so just to be ready I pulled out the camera. Sure enough a few minute later I could hear it in the distance and before I could ready the camera it had streaked pass me again. I thought I was going to miss this opportunity so I got ready. I could hear the jet off in the distance so I steadied myself but before I knew it the jet zoom past me before I could take the picture. Frustrated I hoped that I could at least capture one shoot but the jet snuck past two more time before finally capturing these 5 shots.