A nice Marquette County blend of house reds.
Archive for the ‘Ishpeming’ Category
A MEDLEY OF REDS
Posted: September 25, 2013 in Architecture, Details, Doors, Ishpeming, Negaunee, Old buildings, Old Houses, Photography, Red, Structures, Upper Michigan, Wabi Sabi, WindowsTags: I've been battling inner ear wierdness which means that I scuttled sideways through TWO major airports this weekend like a zombie crab. Wasn't pretty.
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BACKSIDE
Posted: September 18, 2013 in Architecture, Bricks, Details, Ishpeming, Old buildings, Photography, Rust, Stairs, Wabi Sabi, WindowsTags: Done working...and this time I mean it!
A soft approach can yield pleasing results.
WABI SABI RED
Posted: August 28, 2013 in Architecture, Deserted, Details, Industrial, Ishpeming, Karen, Photography, Red, Wabi Sabi, WindowsTags: Burt's Bee's Lip Balm, Hair-raising adventures!, One more Monty Python reference and then I'm done, Shameless self promotion!, The Hardy Gallery
In which I simply throw up my hands and embrace my inner seeker after all things red.
And now back to Ishpeming for a moment. (Are you getting blog-reader’s whiplash as we rocket all over the U.P.?) I cannot identify this place by name or purpose. We weren’t able to figure it out, but there were sure a lot of power lines involved.
We were pretty sure that the building had been abandoned, just based on a) the lack of cars, b) the lack of people and c) the countless broken windows.
However…
Through some of those broken windows we could see a big industrial-sized ceiling fan working hard, leading us to believe it wasn’t COMPLETELY deserted. Maybe things were quiet just because it was a Saturday. I was prepared to scale the fence, though, if it meant scoring some good shots.
Except…
I mean, it was well past lunch time. I, for one, was getting a little faint from hunger and Karen is a MAJOR crank when her blood sugar gets wonky. Even so, I was prepared to gnaw on the leather strap from my camera case just to hold the hunger cramps at bay. Karen found a Lifesaver stuck to the bottom of her purse and was considering how to split it between us. We questioned whether or not there was any nutritional value to Burt’s Bee’s Lip Balm.
But then…
I flashed on the last time I went over a chain link fence and it involved ripping the backside out of a nice pair of dress cords. (Don’t ask.)
Sometimes, a really good motto is “Discretion is the better part of Valor.”
Or…”Run away! Run away!”
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I am super-extremely excited because TWO of my pieces were selected for The Hardy Gallery’s Photography show. The Hardy is in Ephraim, part of Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula and I consider inclusion in this juried show to be a pretty big deal. Part of the excitement comes in the way the show is set up: artists must deliver their actual framed works to the gallery on Sunday or Monday, the show is juried all day on Tuesday and calls are made to only the artists who have been selected for the show on Wednesday. As good as I had been feeling about my work, by 4:00 this afternoon I’d received no phone call and had resigned myself to a “drive of shame” to retrieve my pictures on Saturday. At 4:15, a Gallery intern called and I have been grinning and giggling for the past several hours. The show opens on Friday and is up until October 15. An estimated audience of 12,000 people will visit the gallery during that time.
WABI SABI ISHPEMING
Posted: August 18, 2013 in Architecture, Bricks, Details, Doors, Ishpeming, Photography, Rust, Upper Michigan, Wabi Sabi, WindowsTags: Am starting to feel pigeon-stalked. Do you suppose the NSA has a squad of pigeons on their payroll?, Holy Wow! I get it! These are stool pigeons!
Yet another look at the U.P.
I don’t generally post variations on the same picture, but I am so delighted by (and more than just a little in love with) this building that I could not do a “one and done.”
I keep thinking that if I could just stand on the roof, I would see all of Paris at my feet.
BEHIND THE CEMENT COMPANY
Posted: August 9, 2013 in Architecture, Details, Industrial, Ishpeming, Michigan, Photography, Rust, Structures, Upper Michigan, Wabi Sabi, WindowsTags: In case you wondered U.P. stands for "Upper Peninsula", Residents of the U.P. are called "Yoopers", Those who live below the Mackinac Bridge are referred to as "Trolls."
Ishpeming. There weren’t any signs that said we COULDN’T be there…
Study the window carefully and you’ll find Karen, wheelwoman for the getaway Subaru.
Why, pray tell, would we be on Full Alert for a rapid getaway in such an obviously deserted place?
Good question, Grasshopper. Answer: This a fully-operational business and, even though it was a Sunday morning, there was plenty of noisy action going on in other buildings. Thank goodness that Subaru offers a “Cloak of Invisibility” package and Karen had opted for that over the kayak racks.
ABANDONED IRON MINE PART II
Posted: June 29, 2013 in Architecture, Deserted, Industrial, Iron Mines, Ishpeming, Michigan, Mine shafts, Mines, Photography, Upper Michigan, Wabi SabiTags: 1 Today is my birthday and I was initially feeling pretty wierd about it, 2) but now I have decided to embrace the whole thing with enthusiasm, 3 I just never imagined myself at this particular age
Ishpeming. Same abandoned mine. Different shaft.
ISHPEMING: ABANDONED IRON MINE
Posted: June 27, 2013 in Architecture, Deserted, Details, Industrial, Iron Mines, Ishpeming, Michigan, Mine shafts, Mines, Photography, Upper Michigan, Wabi SabiTags: Karen, new ND filter is a rock star
Early Sunday morning.
The Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company, Ishpeming, Michigan. Abandoned mine site.
I will skip all of the National Geographic quality details of where we parked and how we labored through the woods and down a rocky path, skirting the mine property, rocking the chain link fence and trying to shoot through the barbed wire.
Halfway around the property, we popped through a hedge and onto a residential street.
Huh?
The neighbors were not alarmed. Maybe there is a rent in the fabric of the cosmos and crazy old women fall through the hedge on a regular basis.
(This is, after all, the U.P.)
Worked our way down the street, still shooting through and over the fence. And then… we abruptly turned a corner and the whole property was open to us. No fences. No barbed wire. Pavement right up to one of the shafts. A few pesky “No Trespassing ” signs that we naturally ignored.
To be continued!
