According to the historic marker at Trestle Park, on Summit Avenue, in Algoma Township, north of Rockford, Michigan, the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad hired a local farmer to build a stone culvert under a railroad trestle that crossed what was then known as Wicked Creek (now called Stegman Creek). Completed in 1885, the culvert is an amazing feat of construction. It seems incredible that a local farmer would have the engineering skills and tools necessary to build such a structure. The railroad and trestle are long gone, but the White Pine Trail now passes over the culvert on its 92-mile journey from Grand Rapids to Cadillac, Michigan.
Category: Grand Rapids
Shots from a foggy morning
A few shots from a foggy Saturday morning in the countryside near Grand Rapids.
Finding fall colors on a gloomy day
A gloomy Saturday morning with periods of light rain. But I ventured out to see what I could do. We are on the receding side of the fall color show. So I tried something a little different. I used camera movement to create a softer, abstract view of fall. With a little post-processing magic, I think the resulting images are interesting.
Each of these images was shot with a slow shutter speed, hand held. As the shutter clicked, I moved the camera from bottom to top.
Some Morning Shots at Seidman Park
Seidman Park is one of my go-to places for local photography. Yesterday, I chose to go small, pulling my macro extender out of my bag to get close up shots of wildflowers and fungi. I don’t shoot macro very often and definitely need the practice.
Fall’s Approach
The fall colors have generally yet to come to our area in West Michigan. We are in the midst of a mini-drought (the third driest September since 1892). We are seeing a lot of leaves simply dry up and fall off the trees with revealing their spectacular colors.
Still there are signs of fall. The morning air has turned much cooler with lows dipping into the low forties and high thirties. This causes fog to form in low lying fields and especially around bodies of water, which still retain some of the warmth from our 80 and 90 degree temperatures from just a couple of weeks ago.
Yesterday morning, in my wanderings, I drove across the Grand River in Ada and saw the mist rising from the water. I turned around and found a boat launch where I could park and explore the waters edge. Here are some photos.
From the shores of the Grand it was just a short trip to Seidman Park and Honey Creek. I brought along my waders so I could get down into the creek and get closer to the rocks.
Panorama up the Grand River
Experimenting today with panoramas. This shot is composed from 10 photos shot vertically. Each shot overlapped about 30 percent. I stitched them together in Lightroom.
Up before Dawn
Up early today, as usual. I went down to the Grand River to catch some photos as the sun came up. The Sixth Street Bridge, seen in these photos, was erected in 1886 and is the longest and oldest metal truss bridge in Michigan. I have added a bonus, after -dawn, photo of the Sparrow Coffee Shop on Wealthy.
The Dawning Light on a Cold Winter Morning
Out before dawn on a clear morning in Grand Rapids. We have had precious little sunshine this winter, so the prospect of a brilliant sunrise was exciting. But, the temperatures were in single digits this morning, and my digits just could not tolerate the cold. I snapped a couple of photos in downtown Grand Rapids and one on Reeds Lake before heading back to the coffee shop to thaw out.
The horizon begins to brighten on downtown Grand Rapids and Rosa Parks Circle.
The dawning light reflected in the PNC Building on a clear, frigid morning.
Winter in the Japanese Garden
I made a short visit to the Japanese Garden at Meijer Gardens today. The lake is frozen but the waterfalls are flowing. Even on a cold winter day, the Japanese Garden is an inviting place of remarkable beauty. (Click on an image to see it larger.)
The ice along the shore makes for a beautiful abstract.
D’Arts Donuts
D’Arts Donuts opened in Eastown this week. It’s a cute shop with great hand crafted donuts. Congratulations Adam and Veronica.
