Here is a short recap of some items you might find of interest for this week.

Nature & Weather

This week gave us a reminder that winter isn’t quite over yet, despite many people yearning otherwise.  Southeast Michigan was hit with another snowstorm.  However, this is the snow I like, where it sticks to the trees for a while.  Snow always acts as a great simplifier in our normally visually tangled woods.   So off into woods I went with my camera hoping to find some interesting scenes.   I ran into some friends along the way.

White tail deer with snow scenery, Clinton River Park, Sterling Heights, MI

The deer in our woods are probably right in the middle in the spectrum of tolerance of humans.  They are not overly skittish, but they won’t come up asking for any ear rubs either.   I initially spotted some ears moving behind the snow-covered branches here and stopped in my tracks.   Clearly they already spotted me, and I was the sole focus of their attention.   Here is where the non-verbal conversation begins to let them know I am not a threat.

While I could practically feel the laser-focused stares they were giving me, I decided to play squirrel and search for my nuts.  Ok, that didn’t quite come out like I intended, but stay with me.   This is a PG-rated blog.  After a few minutes the deer started moving around, about 6 of them.   A young one came out of the brush, full of bravado, to stomp at me a little and get a closer look.  I just went on playing squirrel.   It wasn’t long before the deer just went on with their business, oddly with a lunatic in their midst.   I ended up with one shot I liked that portrayed the day and the encounter.

The Great Lakes

This past week marked another year’s “Great Lakes Day” on March 7.  As so many things seem to have their “days” now, it takes a complicated calendar to keep track of them all.   However, this is one worthy of some thought.  The Great Lakes, with 21% of the world’s freshwater supply, are the subject of an interesting analysis and a great infographic by Visual Capitalist.  They put together the figures relating to the economy of the Great Lakes region.   If the Great Lakes region were a country, it would have the 3rd largest GDP in the world.

Great Lakes region GDP courtesy Visual Capitalist – see full infographic here

Pair this with recent analysis by NOAA, which shows how the Great Lakes are under stress.  This makes it difficult to understand why funding for restoration and protection is continually under threat.

Map: NOAA

Photography

Last Sunday, Ann Delisi, our long-time, local music connoisseur and host for WDET Detroit Public Radio, interviewed Pete Souza about his time in the White House as Barack Obama’s official photographer.   He is on a book tour for the past year or so, and stopped in Detroit.  He is talking about the photographs in the book and what it was like working in the Obama White House.  Souza took 1.9 Million photographs during his time there, many of which will become historical favorites.   It’s a great interview with interesting questions and dialog – well worth a listen here.

•••

Today is the last day of an exhibition at Ferndale’s M Contemporary art gallery featuring Brian Day’s Detroit from Above aerial photograph project.   So this news is late for sure.  However, it is an exceptional series of photographs that you can also see at his website here.