Life on Earth

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.

I shoot, maybe, one or two Mackinac Island Weddings every summer. It is a nice change from the weddings on the mainland. I do need to book Mackinac Island Weddings well in advance, however, because of the additional logistics in a very busy summertime place.

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.

On June 23rd, I had fun capturing many tight details, a very deliberate flower girl named Chloe and an expressive bride at Jessie and Eric’s wedding in Leelanau County and in Traverse City.

Here are a few of the images that stuck out for me, beginning with some detail shots.