My Vivian Maier Day

Caribbean music plays in the distance, a refreshing breeze blows across my face. I am pleasantly warm, but not sweaty. A perfect day at the beach.

Suddenly my eyes pop open, those aren't the sounds of the Caribbean I hear in the distance, that is my alarm. I reach over the side of the bed, grab my phone off the charger and tap the screen to stop the music. I look at the time on the screen, ten minutes after five. I have been sleeping through my alarm for ten minutes. How did that happen? Then I remembered, last night before going to bed, I had set the fan on medium instead of low, to help clear the stuffy air out of the bedroom. Obviously medium is much louder.

I don't have to be anywhere early, I just don't like to deviate from my normal routine.  I lie back on my pillow. I was having the best dream, in it I was Vivian Maier, the mysterious street photographer of the 1950's and 60's. She built an intriguing and sometimes haunting body of black and white street photography work over her lifetime, a body of work that wasn't discovered until after her death. I have been fascinated with her story since the moment I heard it, to have such amazing work and never share it, seems so sad.

Vivan also had a unique talent for captivating self-portraits. These were often captured in the reflections of building windows and doors. I envision myself as Vivian Maier every time I take my own self-portraits.

I recently spent the day in Michigan City, Indiana. Another place that has been on my bucket list for a long time. For the past twenty years I have made almost yearly trips to Michigan City, not to photograph, but to shop. There is huge outlet mall there, the first of it's kind in our midwest area. I would stare longing out the car window as we drove through the deteriorating downtown, the storefronts boarded up, with peeling paint, and crumbling bricks.  Buildings like those give me the same rush that a heroin addict probably feels when they press the contents of the needle into the vein of their arm.

For twenty years I tortured myself by driving by those buildings in favor of bright, shiny and new. Bright, shiny and new really isn't my thing.

As I stood on the corner in front of my first high of the day, I wondered what people thought as they saw me photographing an old derelict building. Were they curious? Were they envious? Were they suspicious? As I knelt on the pavement in front of that former barber shop, photographing it from every angle, I envisioned a documentary photographer following me around for the day, capturing me capturing the things I love. Not that I enjoy having my photograph taken, I would just like to see what other people see as I photograph.

Where I deviate from Vivian Maier is that I would like for people to see my work before I die. I would like to have conversations about it, and about their work. I want to encourage others to do the things that give them those euphoric moments, just as photographing old buildings does for me.

5 Random Friday Finds

Find No. 1

I found beautiful diffused light and the perfect quote:

Courage doesn't always roar.

Sometimes courage is the quiet voice

at the end of the day saying

"I will try again tomorrow."

~Mary Anne Radmacher

Find No. 2

I found an adorable fellow Instagrammer while away for the weekend. I love my girl!! And yes that is still ice, and yes that really was just last weekend.

Find No. 3

I found some amazing Pulled Pork Tacos at a little Farm to Table restaurant in Traverse City.

Find No. 4

I found something interesting when looking through the hole in the glass block window at the Northern Michigan Asylum.

I want to go explore in there.

Find No. 5

I found some awesome Oolong tea at a new coffee shop. Coffee Shop Chronicle No. 29 coming on Sunday.

Joining Kim for Friday Finds

The Abandoned Mill

It seems like my husband has been gone a lot lately for work, I try not to complain too much about. But when he told me he had to be gone Saturday morning to Kalamazoo to help deliver some cleaning equipment for work, I had had enough. I suggested that we go together and then while he was working I would take the car and do some exploring then come back and pick him up when he was done. We decided that would be a good idea.

Kalamazoo is about an hour southeast of where we live. I always seem to be northbound so I don't get this direction often, this was the perfect excuse to do just that.  I forgot my wonderful Michigan Recreational Atlas at home which has detailed topographic maps of each county. I love this atlas. I have always plotted out my back roads adventures using it. And I guess this adventure is the start of a revival of the back roads adventures I did last year. I have missed them and I am at a place where I am ready to do them again.  Now seems such an impractical time with winter right around the corner, but we will get out as much as we can before the snow flies.

Without my atlas, I was relying completely on my Google Maps app to get me back to Glen at the appointed hour. I decided to pick a main road and start driving south. At first I was disappointed that there weren't many barns along this road, but then I saw this building and that made me happy.

Although Boat Storage made me laugh since there was no water in sight. Never the less I loved the dull sheen of the building and the magnificent lettering of BOAT STORAGE.

Inspired by my first find I continued on, driving in large squares so that I would find my starting point back each time and not get completely lost.

I drove into the town of Vicksburg and noticed an Art Sale going on at this building...

Honestly the building interested me more than the art sale. I even drove into the parking lot snapped this photo with my phone then got back in my car and drove off looking for more unique buildings.

In one of my large driving squares I spotted a cemetery.

Being the cemetery geek that I am this caused me to slow down and then I saw this...

Thankfully there was a wide shoulder to the road here so I pulled over, got out and set off to explore...

Since this was the day after Halloween there was a bit of a creepy feeling to the place, and who puts a school next to a cemetery?!

Leaving the cemetery and old school house behind, I circled back into Vicksburg again. This time gathering up my courage and curiosity, I stopped at the Art Sale at the Nursery Building. And oh boy am I glad I did.

As I walked into the building the first thing I noticed were lovely hand crafted pottery pieces. I love pottery! Then I noticed free hot spiced apple cider, free cookies and donut holes. Oh yum! I was starving and there had definitely been no Starbucks anywhere in Vicksburg. Hot cider and chocolate chip cookie in hand I began to wander, admiring all the beautiful pottery pieces. Then I noticed one lone photographer amongst the booths, naturally I gravitated that way. The first thing I noticed as I approached his booth were three matted and framed photographs of gloriously decaying wood doors.

I struck up a conversation with Dave, a hobby photographer who has been photographing for over twenty years. I asked how the transition from film to digital went for him. He still prefers film but is practical about needing to be digital. Then I asked him about those doors. He said they were taken at the abandoned paper mill just on the other side of town. "Oh really", I said. "Is this place easily accessible?" "Oh sure it is, just go through town and take a left, you will see it." After more conversation and admiring his work, we exchanged business cards and then I was excited to get out of there and go find this mill.

Sure enough, through town, a left turn and there is was. The front was unimpressive being a combination of bad 1960's and 1970's additions, but because I had seen those photographs I knew there was more. I was expecting NO TRESPASSING signs and fence barriers but there were none of those things, just some large cement pieces so you couldn't drive around the mill. I parked in a nearby parking lot, geared up, and set off.

There was an intentionally set fire here in August of 2012 that heavily damaged portions of the mill. A suspect was caught and tried for arson but found not guilty.

Here is an early photo of the mill...

Vicksburg's Lee Paper Company was originally built to fill a need for a rag-content paper mill in the Kalamazoo Valley paper producing region. Vicksburg was selected because it had a good supply of clean water, two railroads and was centrally located to possible paper markets.

When construction was completed in 1905, production was 35,000 pounds of paper per day. There were 205 employees whose wages ran from 20 cents per hour to 32-1/2 cents an hour. Girls earned 10 cents an hour sometimes working 50-60 hours a week.

Textiles in the form of worn-out clothing and other rags formed the material for rag-content paper. Women sorted the rags, removed buttons and foreign objects in the Rag Room. The cloth was shredded, cooked and processed into fine-quality writing papers.

In 1996 the mill was purchased by Fox River Paper Company, who then announced it's closing by March of 2001. The fate of its beautiful buildings, among the oldest manufacturing structures in the area, is unknown.

The windows and doors that peaked my interest in the first place...

Along with a few other fluttery feeling finds...

I am in a Facebook Group called The Monochrome Explorers so I converted this one to monochrome to post in the group...

Such a sad loss for the area in both jobs and the loss of history. I am so thankful the buildings are still standing today so I could photograph them, but for how much longer remains to be seen. I am thankful too that I followed my curiosity and ventured into that Art Sale and met Dave.

*Historical information taken from the Vicksburg, MI History page, click here to see more vintage photos from the mill.

Photography and Historic Places

When I was in high school, the subject of History held no interest for me. I think that is because in the K-12 arena they can easily destroy any potential curiosity in the subject by making you memorize dates and events, all those boring facts. What they don't teach you in school are the stories. The stories are what makes history come alive.

One of the things I am most drawn to when I photograph are old buildings. Each has a history, each has a story waiting to be told.

I rarely do historical research ahead of an exploration of a place. I may have read something about it that peaked my interest to initially seek the place out, but that is the extent of my information gathering. I prefer to have my eye and mind wander about the place unhindered. It is only as I begin to load my photos on to the computer and start to see what pieces of history I have captured, then I start to delve into the history of the place.

That being said, something I have started to seek out in the last year are historical tours. I can tell right away if our tour guide is passionate about the subject they are talking about. We have been fortunate this year to experience two different tours where I could tell the tour guide has a deep love for the place and the history.

The first tour was with Joe at the Northern Michigan Asylum in Traverse City this past winter. You can read about that tour here and here. There will be a new installment of this tour coming in the near future from our latest tour which we did this summer.

The second tour was a ranger led walk of Glen Haven, MI with Ranger Marie of The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Our daughter is interning at Sleeping Bear this summer and she tipped us off to this ranger led walk when we were up there for vacation.

We met on a beautiful Sunday morning. The temperatures on the slightly cool side, but the sun was shining and the sky was that perfect summer blue.

The ranger led walks were just getting started for the summer season so still an undiscovered treasure to most tourists. Hence why my husband and I were the only non-park employed people on the tour.

Ranger Marie has done a great deal of research on the town of Glen Haven and has followed up on people's stories whenever she is able. It was so interesting to listen to her recount some of them. If you ever get up to the Sleeping Bear area I would highly recommend this ranger led walk.

The highlight of the tour was the opportunity to go inside the Sleeping Bear Inn. Glen and I have wandered around the outside with our cameras on a few occasions. The chance to explore the rooms inside gave me that fluttery feeling of photographic excitement.

A few quick facts. The Sleeping Bear House, as it was originally named, was built in 1857 in the small logging town of Glen Haven, located on the shores of Lake Michigan. The Inn was originally used as a Boarding House for lumberjacks, dock workers and sometimes for passengers from the steamships that docked in Sleeping Bear Bay. These passengers wishing to stay overnight or get a good hot meal.

Now that the basic facts have been stated, let's step inside the Inn...

We entered through the back door, walked past the old telephone...

and entered into the kitchen.

There was no electricity in the Inn so I was so happy for a bright sunny day and lots of big windows with natural light. I wouldn't mind working at this counter and looking out at Lake Michigan. 

Through the swinging doors and out into the large main room.

Love the vintage wallpaper.

The front porch. My favorite place. I am such a porch girl.

Some vintage signs. My favorite is this one though...

 Especially after I found a photo in the museum of the sign when it was in use.

Although you can tell the signs are not the same. Different lettering, but same wording.

Then up the stairs to the rooms.

Notice a difference between door Number 1 and door Number 10?

Room Number 1 was the Honeymoon Suite, any ideas now?

Each room had a sink in it, but the toilet was communal.

As we were leaving I noticed this bit of ephemera tacked to the wall on the front porch. Ranger Marie had no idea how long it has been there, but from the looks of the style of the phone numbers, quite a long time.

Just imagine all the stories this old Inn could tell. This is what I love about historic places.