As this year comes to a close, I found myself once again engaged in a self-imposed tradition of sorts.  I am looking back through my photo archives picking out favorites or memorable moments from the year, my 11th year in doing so.   It is a year I found myself wandering a lot, perhaps in life itself.   Sometimes I hesitate to use the word wander as it carries perhaps a stigma of lack of discipline or direction.  Sometimes I think the word is perfectly fitting in a self-critical way, stigma or not.   At times I like the word journey more, but I would be remiss in answering the obvious question of “where to?”

Nonetheless, direction or not, I found myself playing with paths in my wandering, playing with new ideas on photographs.  I engaged in citizen scientist projects.  I am helping study on vernal pools and helping with river water quality monitoring.   I was finally ready to invest some time and money into having an aerial option in my ways to explore the natural world.   I explored new parcels of land set for preservation, and fought to save others from development.   Along the way, many times I had my camera.

What follows is a look back on 10 photographs from the year and some comments about each.  Should you feel inclined, please let me know your thoughts in the comments and sharing this post via social media is always welcomed.  

Frozen Bubbles on Lake St. Clair  

Frozen Bubbles on Lake St. Clair, Michigan WI10114

My winter exploring is never complete without at least some pilgrimages to Lake St. Clair.   As I’ve written before, it is a place so dynamic because of various freeze/thaw cycles in Michigan, unpredictable winter weather conditions, and winds that dramatically shape the shoreline.     Sometimes there are big piles of ice blocks, glass-like ice sheets, ravines of ice and snow, or long flat expanses.   Sometimes there are bubbles, lots and lots of bubbles.

I remember on this particular day in January 2018.  I tipped my mental hat to the only other people crazy enough to be out here before dawn, the ice fisherman.  This day I was infatuated with ice bubbles.  I was finding groups of them everywhere.   Each one seeming better than the last as far as being graphically interesting.  But hey, it’s dark out.  I am weary of tempting fate on creaking ice.   With the light changing rapidly, and I just needed to pick some and go with it.   I found this photograph really communicates the conditions of that day.
 
 
 

Eastern Screech Owl in Sycamore cavity  

Eastern Screech Owl in Sycamore, Clinton River Park, Sterling Heights, MI BI10140

Owls are more often heard than seen in the woodlands behind my house.  Creatures announcing the night is theirs.   So to see one during the day is a special treat.

This particular nest cavity has been watched for a number of years by a variety of people, including morning joggers and cyclists wondering if the “owl is home” today.   Unfortunately some have not kept respectful distance in trying to get photographs, which is really upsetting.   Observers told tales of people trying to get close with their phones, to the point of a blazed trail needing to be covered with brush.   

I made quite a few images of this owl in various poses, over various days, doing owl things.  This large sycamore tree has so much character itself, I liked the prominence of the bark patterns in a closeup.  Such a view was only possible through the use of 700mm in optics and even then, some liberal cropping, a benefit of starting with 36 megapixels.   It was far enough away to simply watch the owl go about doing owl stuff, mostly sleeping.   Aside from being able to maintain a respectful distance, a big lens yields a secondary benefit of being able to bop someone on the head should they get too close.
 
 
 

Corktown Plants, Michigan Central Station, Detroit, Michigan  DN10157

Corktown Plants 

Michigan Central Station has been an icon in Detroit for over a century.   A symbol of Detroit’s rise, fall, and rise again which came close to demolishment in 2009 due to constant issues with vandals, scrappers, and trespassing.   It operated as a rail station from 1914-1988, impressing visitors with its 54 foot ceilings, towering marble pillars, massive arches, bronze and mahogany doors.   Visitors such as Charlie Chaplin, Diego Rivera, Frida Khalo, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Thomas Edison perhaps stopped for a moment in awe while passing through.   The prominent figure in the skyline of Detroit’s oldest neighborhood, Corktown, has been used in blockbuster movies such as Transformers and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Twenty Eighteen brought welcome news on the future of this historic building when it was purchased by Ford Motor Company, with plans to renew its presence as a transportation hub and a focal point in the future of automated cars.   As part of the celebration, Ford opened the iconic building, closed for 20 years, to tours to publicize their plans.   Tours sold out Motor City fast, and Ford offered a final extended day to a wait-list before renovations were to start.  I managed to get in and add some photos, contributing to my “D-Nature” project, where I explore nature reclaiming land around the city.   It seems man will begin to take it back again, perhaps for the better to make good use of this beautiful architecture.

Pollinator Field, Macomb County, Michigan FL10215

Pollinator Field

It was kind of strange to “discover” this pollinator field off the side of a major highway in suburbia.  Nonetheless, the pop of color seen in a peripheral glance was enough to warrant further exploration.   As part of the Xerces Project, I learned this field is protected from all pesticide use.  With an apiary nearby, it is intended to be a pollinator friendly space.   And pollinators there were, as I counted hundreds of butterflies and bees making their rounds.   While I made hundreds of photographs with pollinators in them, it perhaps seems strange that my pick doesn’t include any.

While this was initially a purely aesthetic choice, it brought a pause in thinking about the field without any pollinators.   With their numbers in worldwide decline, it is worth contemplating our dependency.   This beautiful array of colors would certainly look a lot different without them.
 
 
 

Autumn in Northern Shiawassee Basin Preserve – Davis Lake Overlook, Michigan  AR10188

Autumn in Northern Shiawassee Basin Preserve

As mentioned above, I now have an aerial option in my wandering.  You can read more about that story here.  I am still exploring ideas on what I want to do with this capability.   While the new perspective is exciting, I am also cautious of just making photographs because they are high up.   No doubt I have fallen into this trap initially just because it is just so damn fun.  

One should note that entering our national airspace does not make one as “free as a bird.”    I experienced just a taste of the rules, regulations pilots adhere to and sense of responsibility in obtaining my part 107 license from the FAA.  Still, I have learned that I can explore areas without as much physical impact as I would have on foot.  

This area of the Shiawassee Basin in Southeast Michigan is one such example.  This rare wetland community, known as prairie fen, is home to endangered species such as the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake, Poweshiek Skipperling butterfly, and Blandings Turtles.   It provides a crucial wintering habitat in particular for reptiles and amphibians.   Aerial photographs will continue to pop up from time to time in my Aerial Photography Gallery.
 
 
 

My Dagobah

“My Dagobah” – Clinton River Park wetlands, Sterling Heights, Macomb County, Michigan  FO10177

In contrast to the open spaces of the prairie fen above, this woodland area of Sterling Heights has a number of forested wetland areas that are hard to see or observe by air.   I also proclaim they are much more enjoyable to visit outside of peak mosquito season!   During some wandering to get a sense of how autumn colors were coming around (not much at this time in early October), I ventured off a small side path and came upon this scene.    A large log seemed like a nice place to sit and rest as I took in the surroundings.

It was peacefully quiet and seemingly lush with life all around.   A wise, old inner voice seemed to hit me on the head with a cane ordering “make photo here you will.”

Red Cedar Roots and Leaves

I do the majority of my hiking alone, for good reason.  I wouldn’t want someone to endure my fixations I sometimes end up in.   An interesting detail may peak my interest out of the corner of my eye, but it may take quite awhile before I figure out a photograph from it, if at all.   Even if someone is the most patient, the guilt of subjecting someone to it disrupts the flow.  Sometimes I even annoy myself.   After all, how many tree roots does one have to stare at?    I suppose the answer is “just enough.”

Red Cedar Roots and Leaves, Holland Ponds, Michigan TR10183

Autumn Canopy view Clinton River, Clinton River Park, Sterling Heights, MI

Autumn Canopy over the Clinton River

Trees take on such a different visual character in a top-down perspective.  They are less dominating features of a landscape as individuals, just simple texture contributors to the surrounding canvas.   Top-down aerials will continue to be something I explore in the coming years for their abstract aesthetics.   I have sat on the very edge of these banks for years trying to conjure something new.   Turns out all I had to do is look down.

Leaf Inception

Leaf Inception, Clinton River Park, Sterling Heights, MI

One characteristic I try to obtain in my photographs is a sense of visual flow.   It is something I strive for either in the principle composition at time of exposure, or in development of the tonal qualities later on.   If I get lucky, it can take on multi-dimensional routes.   It is how I attempt to visually order little scenes of otherwise chaotic moments like this one.   Intimate landscapes present challenges like this when the aesthetic isn’t overly obvious.   Maybe it works for some, others perhaps not, some just see a jumble of leaves.   

Canopy of Life

Much is written on the value of trees, even the value of particular individual trees.  The US Forest Service has even created a suite of tools that will estimate the monetary economic benefits and environmental benefits of individual trees and forested areas.   Their tangible and intangible value should be obvious to most with any sense of the environment around them.

Canopy of Life, Clinton River Park. Sterling Heights, Michigan TR10218

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.” ~ William Blake, 1799

This final pick of mine for the year is my celebration of this tree, and of canopy.   Even though I live near a heavily wooded area of Southeast Michigan, it is by far not typical.  My 36.8 square mile city has a canopy coverage of just 19% as of 2016.  The county and regional area of the state of Michigan itself has similar challenges.   Suburban sprawl and development never seems to retreat, and city planning ordinances to protect canopy are a rarity.

It is a region where logging funded the rise of automotive manufacturing, which similarly didn’t place much value on green spaces.  The tides are turning however, and there is a concentrated effort to measure and map the progress of restoring canopy to the region.   Interest in urban forestry continues to rise, especially as trees are realized to be the most economical method to address water management, pollution, soil erosion, and anthropogenic climate change.

 
 
So there you have it, a year of wanderings, journeys, places that prompted recording a bit more than just a fleeting thought.   Certainly there are more photographs I wanted to include, but I wouldn’t want to be accused of being undisciplined.  😉  Some of my latest photographs can always be found in my Recent Images gallery.   If you are tired of social media companies and their algorithms deciding what you do or don’t see, your data being marketed as their product, and want to stay up to date with what I am doing here, please consider subscribing to my newsletter or just to blog posts.   

Looking for more?  Perhaps peruse earlier year summaries dating back to 2007, simply clickety click this linky link:  Yearly Favorites

Don’t forget to show some love to Jim Goldstein’s list of all lists of photographers sharing their favorites of the year.