The One That Got Away
I always use the website 500px to scout for places to photograph when I’m on the road. It’s a virtual means to scout an unknown area to see some of the best features of that area. On this website I found a photograph of an abandoned house near the town of Petoskey, MI that I thought would be a perfect foreground for a Milky Way shot.
It was taken by a photographer named Brit Temby. I was able to get in touch with Brit (who lives in Scotland) he was gracious enough to help me locate the abandoned and dilapidated house. Brit took the photo in 2015 and wasn't sure if it would still be standing. Not only was it still standing, it was facing South...Milky Way Gold! It was glorious and everything I’d hoped for. But...there were problems...It was high on a hill, on private property, protected by an electric fence and, there was a Bull. Now, I just braved the frigid waters of Lake Superior to take a photo of a cave that I had been looking at for 3 years, I wasn’t going to let a little hill or a Bull on private property stop me from getting that old house in my Milky Way photo! ….. So, after jumping the fence and climbing the hill to take a closer look, there it was in front of me, facing South. Perfection! I managed to get a few shots off before Mr. Bull in a near by field starting to make his way over to see what all the fuss was about. This wasn’t going to be easy, especially in the dark of night. I knew I would have to get permission from the land owner so I could find out if that bull and his cows were always in that field. I located the land owner and found out that Mr. Bull and his girlfriends live in that field and don’t particularly like visitors. He could not and would not give me permission to come back at night to shoot because of the dangers associated with the location and of course the bull. I pretty much begged, but to no avail. So I only have the shots that I took in the daylight to remember it by….or maybe when I get really good at Photoshop, I’ll recreate the image of this house and the Milky Way, the way it is in my mind's eye.
Nothing like a sunset to ease the pain of disappointment. This is the marina in the town of Petoskey, MI.
After all of my boo-hooing, I decided to move on and get over it. We spent the next day in the town of Petoskey. We found The Crooked Tree Art Center. A glorious combination of museum / art center / workshop / performing arts center, this place had it all. Their mission is to inspire and enrich lives through the arts. As luck would have it, one of their main exhibits was the Masterworks of Ansel Adams called “Through the Lens: Ansel Adams-His Work, Inspiration and Legacy. They had 48 of his iconic images that are on display through September. They backed up this exhibit with workshops, panel discussions, lectures and a juried photography show of our national parks. Looking at the works of The Master of Light was just the distraction I needed away from the abandoned house...I wonder if Ansel ever had any missed opportunities?
