Northern Michigan Gathering - June?

[Dan Henderson]

I'm very interested in participating, and right now either weekend will work.

[billschwab]

Wow Joe! I can't wait to see this rig in action. That is a great portrait. I know right where you are. If only I had headed up to the beach on Sunday! I've seen a lot of crazy things there, but this takes the cake.

I was happy to see the homested made it through the winter, so I am now getting the finishing plans together to send out to everyone about the gathering.

Stay Tuned...

Bill

[wildbill]

I went to the Cross Village area last week and took my new portable darkroom rig with me on a test run. There are a few bugs to work out of it, but I should be up and running full-tilt by the time June rolls around.

Here's a wetplate image on a full-plate enamaled aluminum sheet I exposed Sunday afternoon a few miles north of Cross Village on the dunes of a county park along Lake Michigan:




And a picture of the darktent and my 11x14:



More pics of the darktent .

Looking forward to the June get-together and to meeting everyone.

Joe

I've done a bit of snowboarding on that hill.

[billschwab]

OK everyone. I have settled on the second choice for weekends. June 23rd to the 25th. It has been a nice weekend in the past and is less crowded in the sweet spots being only 2 weeks before the 4th. It also looks as though many that would like to come can do either one. Sorry to anyone this leaves out, but I hope to do it again.

I'm sorry to leave this hanging for so long, but a couple travel prospects have been being kicked around and I thought I might be going to visit Winter in New Zealand around then, but that is still being looked into and I didn't want to leave you all in the lurch. I am looking forward to this.

I have been very busy, but will try to get a website up soon with info on the gathering... maps, places to stay, etc. I'll post the URL soon. Just wanted to let everyone know the dates.

Think warm... and NO RAIN!! I hope everyone can make it up.

Bill

[Jerry Basierbe]

Sounds good Bill. I'm looking forward to getting up there too.

Jerry

[billschwab]

Great Jerry... the more the merrier.

[mjs]

I'm planning on being there. I'll need a place to plop a tent. Thanks for organizing this, it's starting to look like one of the highlights of summer for me!

mjs

[billschwab]

I'll need a place to plop a tent.

Plenty of room for that! Looking forward to meeting you.

Bill

[jp80874]

I would truly love to come but I am afraid that if I broached the subject with my wife, she would cut off my arm and beat me to death with it.

Dinesh,

Find an enticement that will make her wish to go on the great adventure. You are in the flower incentive business after all.

After forty years in sales I am still delighted and amazed at what motivates people, especially those you think you know. I casually approached the trip at breakfast today with my wife who likes to sketch and paint water color landscapes that I am trying to photograph. I mentioned the excitement of a short ride (400 miles one way) to meet a bunch of photographers gnashing their teeth in the cold amongst the Great Northern Mosquitoes. She who does amaze, responded, "how many art museums would we drive by?

Help me here Bill. Have I have missed any. You go west from Cleveland to the Toledo Art Museum which is showing “The Essence of Laughter: Satire through the Ages, Works on Paper and Toledo’s Satirist: Pulitzer Prize Winner cartoonist Nick Anderson.”

You turn right and go north to Ann Arbor. The U of M is showing "Rethinking the Photographic Image: The Best of Photography from the George Eastman House Collection" In the Painting gallery, "European and American Art: 1700-1900 - portraits by Oudry, Perronneau and Reynolds, as well as later portraits by Couture and Sandys; landscape and genre paintings by Whistler, Stevens, Monet, Pissarro and Bouguereau; and an group of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany "

North to East Lansing , the Kresge Museum at Michigan State and another of her favorites, “The collection of ancient and Egyptian art at the Kresge Art Museum is small yet diverse.”

If we stay up north long enough the Ansel Adams exhibit opens in Toledo on June 30th for the return drive.

I let you know how it plays tonight.

John Powers

As a foot note, last year we drove a thousand miles to the Maine Photo Workshops and a water color workshop in Rockland. It took us three days, three museums and six bookstores. Somebody else did it in fifteen hours taking naps in rest stops.

[billschwab]

...turn right and go north to Ann Arbor. The U of M is showing "Rethinking the Photographic Image: The Best of Photography from the George Eastman House

John,

This is perhaps the best part. I urge anyone coming up that way to stop and see this show. I have now been twice and it got better the second time. Pretty much as I remember the display at the Eastman House when I was last there several years ago. A truly great representation from the history of photography.

My wife tells me you purchased a frame... too kind. I only hope you like the thing. Exciting that you are starting into 7x17. We started building the frames in that format to help push me to get into the format as well!

Hope you can make it up. There is certainly a lot of beautiful landscape for you and your wife to scout. There is also Mackinaw Island close by for those that may want to go off on their own. Lots to photograph there... and no cars to deal with. Only bikes and horses. Please don't be expecting anything too formal at my place though. As I have said, it will be a rustic experience and there won't be any real schedule to speak of. I pretty much plan to act as a guide for those that wish to tag along and to point those that don't into some interesting directions. There are so many possibilities that I could never cover them all in a weekend. There will be a couple things planned, including a dinner at the famous Legs for those wanting to attend, but it will be basically a loose affair using my place as base.

Website almost ready... It'll have maps, directions, places to stay, etc.

Bill