Life on Earth

I happened to be in Minneapolis over the weekend and was able to experience the annual Mayday parade, ceremony and festival. It was fantastic– Complete with bureaucratic puppet heads (above) and blood donations to save those addicted to oil (below).

This year’s theme, A New Bridge: Infrastructure for Future Beings, was an obvious call out to the spending of funds to re-build other countries rather than on the infrastructure needs in the U.S. Still fresh on the minds in Minneapolis was the I-35 bridge that collapsed last year. Still, we are too busy chasing the carrots that our promised in front of us.

I also took audio, and will let you know when I get something put together for a quick slide show.

Last month I spent a day witnessing the making of cheese. The story ran in yesterday’s Detroit Free Press. Basically, the process I saw was a few hundred gallons of milk slowly being stirred into a curd, poured into forms and then pressed into wheels that will become what was voted last year as the “best of show” at the American Cheese Society’s annual competition. Basically, making it the best cheese in the country. Not bad for a company with three employees.

The Leelanau Cheese Company is located in Suttons Bay, Michigan. The owners, John and Anne Hoyt make their artisan raclette in large batches that are aged around 8 months. The Free Press’s Sylvia Rector did a nice job describing the process, but also captured the uniqueness of the Hoyt’s mission–fine cheese, made right, from the cow to the plate.

See more pictures, and read her article online at: It’s the best cheese in America

Below, John Hoyt squeezes excess whey and water out of a fresh wheel of cheese. The cheese will sit with weights on top of it for another 12 hours before being placed in a cellar for 8-10 months.

恭喜發財, KungHeiFatChoi, is a Cantonese New Year greeting for “Congratulations and be prosperous”. We can only hope!

This is the year of the Rat, and it stands to be a year of change for us rats, culminating in a gloomy and pessimistic December. Yikes! The cure, according to one reading of the Chinese zodiac– Rats should travel abroad and learn something new. In particular, if you were born in the fall, head south. That’s convenient, as my recent trip to Colombia left me wanting more (images soon).

To celebrate here are some New Year inspired images from my 2005 trip to China.

It is always a good time to eat Chinese sausages, shown here hanging on a telephone line on a sunny day in December in the then frigid city of Nanchang.

The Chinese New Year time is also called the Spring Festival and it is the time of the year when almost everyone takes a vacation and heads home for a week or two. The parks are full and the restaurants are packed

This year is particular special for China as Beijing hosts the 2008 Olympics from August 8 to August 24. This Olympic logo was hung on a construction site in the southern city of Nanjing. The promotional blitz for the Olympics has countrywide and extensive ever since the announcement in 2001.

In the end, it is all about family. Here, an elder couple walk home from a Nanjing market.

El perroito, Guardia, inspects the arrival of a group of strange visitors to the Cafinorte coffee warehouse in the Colombian city of Santander on January 16, 2008.

The warehouse is a collection point for the indigenous coffee producer cooperative, Fondo Paez. I spent over a week touring coffee growing regions in Colombia with Jody and Chris Treter of Higher Grounds Trading Co . I’m just getting back into the swing of things, the frigid weather hasn’t helped, but I’ll have more images, as well as audio soon.

* Note: If you’re a bicycle promoter, you must check out when they are doing in Bogotá. Watch this video and tell me you don’t want something like this in your town: Ciclovia: Bogotá

The last wedding assignment of the 2007 season was in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Ben & Sherry took a chance that it wouldn’t snow in mid-October and threw a great party. Here are a few images focusing on the details, the humor and friendships.

For each wedding, I choose a selection to proof as black & white. B & W allows the viewer to focus on the subject of the images. The colors were amazing in October, but so were the relationships.

Images by Gary L Howe

View the multi-media slide show State Theatre Grand Opening

Click through to view a multimedia piece created by myself and audio reporter, Linnaea Melcarek, covering the grand opening of the Traverse City State Theatre on November 17, 2007. Hundreds of people were downtown to celebrate the re-opening of the 91 year old, and newly, renovated theater.

Jason & Erika were married back in late September in St. Joseph, Michigan, with the reception at the Blue Dress Barn. They are a beautiful couple, both with lots of character. It was difficult to choose what images to display here, so I focused on showing their personalities when together.

I have a few more weddings from 2007 to BLOG (soon), but previous entries can be viewed here: 2007 Weddings

Images by Gary L Howe

Michael Moore waves to the Saturday night crowd as he enters the State Theatre in Traverse City during the grand opening on Saturday, November 17, 2007. Moore is one of the founders of the Traverse City Film Festival that now owns the theater and is responsible for the $850 thousand dollar renovations.

The bright lights and big stars were out in Traverse City on opening night. Special guests to the event arrived to the renovated State Theatre by limousine

Director Terry George has a little fun with fans waiting along the red carpet as special guests enter the State Theatre along a red carpet.

The interior of the State Theatre, complete with celestial ceiling. As well, the 500 plus theater seats are completely Michigan made from a company out of Grand Rapids.

For more images of the State Theatre, visit my archive: Gary L Howe

The recently renovated State Theatre opened in Traverse City, Michigan on November 17, 2007. The film, The Kite Runner, made its Michigan premier as part of the grand opening celebration. More soon…

In today’s New York Times is an emotionally moving article by By JERÉ LONGMAN and AIMEE BERG, “Small Town Mourns a Running Marvel“. It is a nice tribute to the runner Ryan Shay who surprisingly passed away last weekend. The village of Central Lake has been holding candle light vigils at the track each night this week. Despite freezing temperatures, hundreds have been taking part, if only to walk around the track once in honor of their hometown hero.

Images by Gary L Howe

I’ve been busy with the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference, planning a fundraiser around the screening of War/Dance, and in general Taking Back Time. I’ll get some more images up soon, but these are images of Elayna. Her mother, Katie, wanted some candid images of this quick moving child. We did our best.

Images by Gary L Howe

I spent the weekend in the U.P. shooting a wedding, camping with my beagle, and getting a tour of the area around the Yellow Dog and Salmon Trout River where a proposed sulfide mine is meeting stern resistance. I’ll have more of the wedding and the river story soon, but wanted to share a few images on my birthday.

Lima waiting patiently as I take far too long shooting a scene.

Images by me, Gary L Howe

Fall–simply, it is just a beautiful time of the year. On September 15th, Andrea & Brian chose a fantastic place to get married in the Snowmoon Ranch. The farm overlooks rolling hills, Glen Lake and comes complete with a population of Llamas. It was a full participatory wedding with several friends lending their musical talents to accompany the sounds of local fav New Third Coast. Unfortunately, we all can’t make it on the new couples’ mega-moon that is taking them across the globe for 8 months.

Announcing an exhibition of images focusing on Fair Trade coffee producers.

Examining green beans in Rwanda.

This has been a part of my work over the last four years working in coordination with Higher Grounds Trading Co. and their buying cooperative, Cooperative Coffees. Higher Grounds recently opened their new roasting facility/cafe bar on the campus of the Traverse City Commons. If you want to learn a lot about the coffee industry and what goes into making a throughly enjoyable cup of coffee, one that is delicious and at the same time being socially just, head over to their place (map below). And, while there, peruse a few photos from Mexico, Bolivia and Rwanda.

Picking :cherries”, or ripe beans, also seen below, in Chiapas, Mexico.

The Higher Grounds Trading Company’s Cafe Bar is located behind Building 50, and just west of Munson Medical Center.

Images by Gary L. Howe. Click here for more Fair Trade coffee images

The wait for a wave is a little longer than you would have in Maui, but that doesn’t stop Elloy Molano & Matt Dobrowolski from surfing off of Van’s Beach in Leland in late August. I was shooting for a travel story about Leland & Fishtown–link below. Molano suggested that we all check out the film, Unsalted, for more about surfing in the Great Lakes.

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Leland, Michigan: A Lower Peninsula Spot Draws a Wider Crowd

photography by Gary Howe

When I take a vacation, it is very hard not to take a camera. Instead, I just try to shoot things that aren’t so obvious or in the norm. North Manitou Island is full of scenic vistas and beaches, but what I’m attracted to most is often the smallest of things. So, while camping there in mid-August I took out my favorite lens, the Nikon 105mm macro, to do things like capture a monarch caterpillar representing the letter “J”, a unidentified object in the breakwater (shell, rock bone??) and other interesting angles of larger things.

All Images by Gary L Howe

In the August 7th print of the New York Times Escapes section, you can read about Mario Batali’s choice of Northern Michigan for a vacation home.

A few images run with the story and also, online, there is an audio slide show of Batali making Pizza al Fresco in his backyard pizza oven. Audio capture by the reporter & produced by the New York Times. Oh, he also shared his very simple Pizza Dough recipe.

Lots of popcorn at the Traverse City Film Festival.

Shell Levin eating popcorn prior to viewing “Grace is Gone” in the State Theater.

* The TCFF now has a daily photo BLOG that I contribute to, check it out: TC Film festival. The overworked photogs at the Record Eagle also have a daily update.

The second day of the Traverse City Film Festival needed extra security as governor Granholm made an appearance at the screening of Nimrod Nation at the Old Town Playhouse. Also on stage at the screening were representatives of the fighting Nimrods from Watersmeet, Michigan. The isolated community, and its love for the high school basketball team is the subject featured in the new documentary series by director Brett Morgen, who was also on hand to field a Q and A session. If you’ve ever spent time in the upper peninsula, or grew up in a small community, there is a lot to remind you of home in this TV series.

Later, the festival’s first free movie at the Traverse City Open Space kicked off with a screening of E.T.

You know what? I’ve never saw this movie until tonight.

I also watched Tuya’s Marriage which is a Chinese story of Mongolian life in Inner Mongolia where water is scarce and life is harsh.

It was a good day for the 2007 Traverse City Film Festival. Great weather, great crowds and, from my perspective, all went very smooth. I spent part of the day roasting in almost 100 degree temps on Traverse City’s Front St. while shooting at the opening celebrations, images below, before attending the opening day screening of an amazing film, “Once“.

I’m no movie reviewer, so I’ll simply say it was a brilliantly done film that feeds an audience’s sense for  reality based romance. I’m always amazed to witness the passion that is possible with song writers. Follow the link to hear some of the music from this modern musical: “Once“.

I’m excited for the rest of the week. There are a lot of great people hanging around downtown and lots of movies to see. The Film Festival is a huge volunteer operation and a lot of my images will be directed at them this week. To kick it off, we have Mark Dragovich who is volunteering for the first time this year. I caught him while he was placing the lettering on the State Theater Marquee.

This is volunteer Fred “Tim” Howell also volunteering for the first time this year. He is standing in front of posters of actress/director Christine Lahti who was presented with the 2007 Michigan Filmmaker Award at the Traverse City Film Festival kick off celebrations.

Michael Moore speaking to the crowd of onlookers on Front St. as he kicked off the 2007 festival. Moore, co-founded the film festival with Doug Stanton and John Robert Williams in 2005.

There still are tickets, so follow the chalk on the pavement, or go online at www.traversecityfilmfestival.org.

The Traverse City Film Festival kicks off tomorrow and for the 3rd year in a row, I’ll be a volunteer photographer for the event. I posted 3 images from last year’s festival below, and will hopefully have an opportunity to post some images from this year’s event later in the week.

The first image shown here was chosen to be printed on the film tickets for the 2007 Film Festival.The Traverse City Film Festival has grown precipitously in the last 3 years, and it has done so while maintaining a high level of energy from its hundreds of volunteers. It is an honor to work with such a positive, high functioning community. Follow the link here, to view more 2006 images from the Traverse City Film Festival.

It’s not just all weddings in the summer. Typically, the freelance assignments I get aren’t so close to home, but on July 13th in the New York Times-Escapes, a story ran that focused on the Traverse City wine region– Michigan’s Wine Country Grows Where the Cherry is King.

The images that ran in print aren’t my favorites from the shoot, but they do show the beauty off the Grand Traverse Bay region.

Here are some of the images that didn’t make print.

Just try to avoid peeking into the store front window at
Kilwin’s Chocolate in downtown Traverse City.

Over at the Grand Traverse Commons, Gerard Grabowski, of Pleasanton Brick Oven Bakery, slides freshly baked, naturally levened breads onto cooling racks.
The bakery recently opened, so stop by.

Tango partners, Lee & Kim Elston, dance to one of Traverse City’s
newest bands, Barefoot Tango, at the Inside Out Gallery.

Leelanau peninsula overlooking Lake Michigan and North Manitou Island.

Early morning on the fish docks at Historic Fishtown in Leland, Michigan.

We threw a party to break in the new house on Lincoln St. complete with the emerging band, Barefoot Tango, that is bringing a bit of world culture to Traverse City with their brand of neuvo tango. Below is just a quick glimpse into the scene that had the street lined with cars, and the front yard stacked with bicycles. As the host, I wasn’t able to shoot more.

And, don’t forget that Barefoot Tango will be playing again Friday June 29th at the Inside Out Gallery.

From the back of the stage to the front; Keith, Chad, Morgan and Lou on the bandelion.

Barefoot Tango played at the Inside Out Gallery on June 29. They are a four-piece consisting of Lou Blouin on bandoneon, Morgan Evans-Weiler on violin, pianist Chad Evans, and Keith Jaissle on contrabass and bass guitar. The music is nuevo tango and their sound is fresh and poignant.

(UPDATE: Seamus was a hummingbird, not a raven. Thank you, Penny.)

Image 2: Leading off the parade was a drove of pigs escaping the factory farm and tossing methane gas bombs.

Image 3: The lead pig, Penny Krebiehl of the Little Artshram, coordinates with the police escort prior to the beginning of the parade.

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More images can be viewed at: Rwanda: Intore Traditional Dance

In Rwanda, we were treated to the four century old tradition of Intore song & dance. It was performed by the Cooperative Pour La Promotion Des Activities-Cafe (COOPAC). The performers were all producer members of the cooperative. Above, Idyagu Gregory leads during a portion of the Intore dance that lasted for almost an hour.

Below, a the drumming section, the a line of feet of the dancers as they kick up dust. Further down, members of the community observe the show and at the bottom, Cooperative Coffees’ Monika Firl enjoying the collective portion of the performance.

Visiting coffee buyers to the coffee cooperative COOPAC (Cooperative Pour La Promotion Des Activities-Cafe) are entertained with the Intore dance troupe comprised of producer members of the cooperative. COOPAC produces some of Rwanda’s, and increasingly recognized as some of the world’s, best coffee that is grown in the country’s volcanic Lake Kivu region in the west.