Courtney Lake National Forest Campground

If you so inclined as to travel to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to camp, or for that matter, participate in any outdoor adventure, the available opportunities will far outnumber the time you have to spend in them. My usual malady is deciding which adventure to embark on or which subject to photograph. In my near 13 years of living here (not including the decades of vacationing here), I have yet to run out subjects to photograph…..but don’t pass that on….we Yoopers like to keep this place sparsely populated.

Benny, my soon to be 14 year old Schnauzer and traveling companion decided to try a new (to us) National Forest Service campground about 1.5 hours from Rauhallinen Farm. Courtney Lake National Forest Campground is located in the Ottawa National Forest, a bit over thirty minutes from Ontonagon, and just a few minutes from Mass City.

The campground has 21 spacious sites, some which are designated for equestrian use. All of the campsites are well separated from each other by natural hardwood forest, and as a result, it is exceptionally quiet. The 33 acre lake offers fishing for Brook and Brown Trout which are planted by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and reproduce on their own. We were fortunate when we arrived about 0930 to find a very secluded campsite located on a bluff, high above the lake. Fresh water and outhouses are available, but no electricity. The fact that most US Forest Service Campgrounds do not offer electricity, showers, and other amenities, usually results in tranquility and the absence of big motorhomes and hordes of campers.

Cooked Hobo Pie for dinner, consisting of ground beef, onion, green pepper, mushrooms, and diced potato, over the campfire, wrapped in tin foil. Enjoyed a few glasses of Traverse City Cherry Wine while waiting for our dinner to simmer.

Mr. B and I sat by the fire into darkness and then retreated into Viola, our Scamp travel trailer, and lit the propane heater. As it got down to 42F, the furnace was appreciated by both of us.

Hope to return here in the Spring with my son and my boat to camp and trout fish.

Have submitted my plan to retire from the Veterans Administration on March 31st of next year….making more time for photographic adventures and enjoying life at Rauhallinen Farm. Six months and counting.

South Dakota Photographic Adventure

Spent the first week of August in beautiful Western South Dakota on a photographic excursion to Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, and the Black Hills. Both grandsons accompanied and we all piled in the Scamp camper together. It had been over 50 years since I had been in South Dakota, when I traveled with a college friend between semesters.

The drive out took 14 hours, as with the boys, there can be just a matter of hours before someone has to use the bathroom or get a bite to eat. On my own, I would say 12 hours would be more likely. Traffic through the Twin Cities was horrid, as we hit the morning rush. We arrived at the White River/Badlands KOA, just in time to set up, make dinner, and tuck into bed.

Convincing grandchildren of the merits of getting up before sunrise so that Papa could make some images before the sun got too high, as well as the temperature, was a daunting task. We drove the Badlands Loop, which contained breath taking landscapes for all of the 39 miles. The boys marveled at their first Big Horned Sheep, as well as hundreds of Prairie Dogs, who would bop in and out of their holes like some characters in a video game.

On both days, by early afternoon we were 105F and 112F Respectively. While it sounds less than habitable, high temps minus the humidity of home I find quite comfortable. If you are photographing or hiking here, carrying enough water to stay fully hydrated is a must. A recent college graduate in his early 20’s died the week before we arrived while hiking with his friend, both of whom carried little water and got lost on an unmarked trail-a real tragedy that could have been obviated with appropriate planning.

For this trip, due to the constraints of space, I left my large format cameras at home and instead brought the Mamiya 6 and Hasselblad systems. Most images were made with the Mamiya 6, which in my opinion, is the most capable medium format camera for travel, with capabilities of hand holding (due to leaf shutters in the lenses), as well as razor sharp optics, especially the 50mm wide angle lens-my most used lens on this system. A light yellow filter was used on the Mamiya lenses to provide a bit more contrast in the skies. Both systems were carried in Tamrac photo backpacks, which I have preferred for many years.

On the third day, the boys enjoyed the splendor of Mount Rushmore on the way to Custer, where we stayed in the Custer/Mount Rushmore KOA, just a few miles west of town. We camped here for three nights to take in the beauty of the Black Hills on day trips, in addition to the incredible landscapes and wildlife in Custer State Park-a 71,000 acre paradise for seeing bison, whitetail and mule deer, antelope, mountain goats, elk, coyotes, burros, bighorn sheep, birds, wild turkeys and prairie dogs. Each evening of our stay we would get in the Jeep and slowly drive the 18 mile loop. The wild burros, descendants from those let loose or escaping during the 1800’s gold rush, will stick their heads in open car windows in search of treats-quite entertaining.

The ride up Needles Highway to Sylvan Lake was a nail biter…hairpin turns, narrow roads, drop offs, and to top it off, the infamous Needles Eye Tunnel, inside which your vehicle has only inches on each side from the chiseled rock.

Sylvan Lake, Custer State Park

Sylvan Lake, Custer State Park

Sylvan Lake, Custer State Park

Sylvan Lake is a beautiful spring fed trout lake with an excellent trail around the perimeter, as well as good swimming and rock climbing. The boys cooled off in the lake while I worked the Mamiya 6 on the loop around the lake. Knowing we could fit through the tunnel, made it less anxiety provoking on the way back down in the later afternoon.

Of notable mention is the fact that we unknowingly picked the week before the famed Sturgis Motorcycle Rally to go on this adventure. Most of the 500,000 motorcycles were in each town, but did not fit the stereotype of what one might think of attending a week long Harley Davidson party. We found all of the riders to be polite, and for the most part, well to do older folks ( with plenty of money to buy $40,000 bikes and even more expensive toy hauler/campers to get them there). The only down side was the traffic they created and the congestion in restaurants and stores.

The ride home on Saturday put us in the driveway of Rauhallinen Farm at 2 A.M., making for a long drive. The dog and cat were retrieved from Bluffview Kennels the next morning and then the downside of these adventures-unpacking, putting away, laundry, and cleaning the camper and truck. Then on to film development.

I am planning a solo trip back to the Badlands during early January, during which time I will bring the 4x5 and 8x10 Intrepid Large Format cameras. The solo trip will allow for the concentration and efforts to shoot sheet film with large format equipment-nothing you want to be rushed doing.

“Myrtle” (2022 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon in Badlands National Park)

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Cattle Ranch Access Road-Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Badlands National Park-South Dakota

White River-Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Cattle Ranch Access Road, Badlands National Park,. South Dakota

Cattle Ranch, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Sylvan Lake, Custer State Park

Wildflowers at Rauhallinen Farm

Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)

Polaroid SX-70 Sonar

Beginning in April and Ending in October, Rauhallinen Farm, and the entire Northwoods for that matter, is ablaze in a full palatte of colours with our array of indigenous wildflowers. The farm also has 17 large perennial beds, a variety of trees and shrubs, in addition to many potted annuals. Always something blooming and ready to volunteer to be taken into my studio for a still life. This is the time of the year that I most often use the iconic Polaroid SX-70 (Sonar) for both still life work and outdoor landscapes. The winter temps here in the far Western Upper Peninsula are often well below zero and as a result, quite hostile towards instant film developing correctly. I will also use the Hasselblad 501CM with Carl Zeiss 120nn Makro Planar and Kodak Portra 160 in 120 format to capture the finest details of still life subjects, often in conjunction with various extension tubes to allow for additional close focusing.

Musk Mallow (Malva moschata L.)

Polaroid SX-70 Sonar

At the present time, there is an abundance of Ox-Eye Daisy, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Wild Blue Iris, Lupine, Oyster Plants, Everlasting Pea, Musk Mallow, Blue Vervain, and soon St. John’s Wort. It has been a buggy Spring with lots of mosquitoes and black flies with ravenous appetites (even when wearing repellant). Also a bad year for wood and deer ticks, requiring your pants to be tucked in your socks, boots, long sleeves, etc. when in the tall grass and brush, which is often the terrain I photograph in. When getting in from the woods this time of the year in the U.P. , one must do a complete body inspection for ticks, due to the dangers of Lyme Disease.

Later in August, I have a photo and camping excursion planned for the Badlands of South Dakota, in addition to the Black Hills, and eventually Devil’s Tower in adjacent Wyoming. Due to the long hikes and frequent location changes, I sadly will not be shooting large format, which would be burdensome. Instead, the Hasselblad and Mamiya 6, Polaroid SX-70, and perhaps the ONDU 6x9 Pinhole will come along.

“about
our argument tonight
whatever it was
about
and
no matter
how unhappy
it made us
feel

remember that
there is a
cat
somewhere
adjusting to the
space of itself
with a delightful
wonderment of
easiness.

in other words
magic persists
without us
no matter what
we do
against it.”
― Charles Bukowski, On Cats

Early Morning Father's Day Excursion

Irish Hollow Cemetery, Rockland, MI

Up at 0400 on Father’s Day. No worry of offending kids by being gone for the morning, as all three adult children live many miles away from the Upper Peninsula. Antoinette and her husband live in San Diego and Eric and his wife live near Sacramento. Madeline, the youngest, is currently living in New York City and working remotely from her research assistant position in Washington D.C. She will start law school at Penn this Fall. A frequent way for me to escape the tedium of lawn and garden related chores is to throw one or more camera systems in the Toyota RAV4 and head out into the wilderness of the Upper Peninsula, with no particular plan or destination. And that is what happened this morning for my Father’s Day gift to myself. Drove 1.5 hours to Rockland, MI and photographed in the spooky Irish Hollow Cemetery. There is a bit of a legend to this completely overgrown place, as with many others in the U.P. When the cemetery was celebrated by the town in the early 1900’s, a little girl stayed at home while the rest of the town was at the graveyard. She managed to light a curtain on fire with firecrackers, eventually burning down the entire town. Most of the graves are in deeply wooded areas and are covered by vegetation, trees, and the ill effect of years of neglect. It is not hard to imagine a horror genre film being made here.

Historic Old Victoria Copper Mining Village

Onward a few miles outside of Rockland to the historic copper mining village of Old Victoria, which operated from 1849 until 1921. The buildings in the village has been renovated and preserved as a valued historical collection and are available for tour during the Summer and Fall.

My next subject was some 1950’s tourist cabins that had been abandoned years ago. The house in front of the cabins was vacant, which made me more comfortable in walking back to make a photograph. At home, following post-processing, I decided to join the two images into one diptych, which included both the cabins and sign from the highway. Places like this were abundant in the northwoods when I was a child in the 50’s.

Tourist Cabins/Motel-Ontonagon County, MI

Driftwood Roots-Lake Superior Shoreline-Ontonagon County, MI

Following the Lake Superior Shoreline from Ontonagon, I stopped at one of my favorite beaches, which I had to myself. The location is also a favorite spot of my grandsons for swimming, as it is sandy, rather than rock-filled like most of Superior’s shoreline. I have photographed this large driftwood root system with many formats and different films over the years. It decomposes so gradually, it will likely outlast me. Each season provides for different light and offers variety for composition.

One downside of using a rangefinder like the Mamiya 6 in this case, is parallax error. In simple terms, what you see through the viewfinder may not be what you get in the photograph. This is especially more prevalent when shooting at close distances, like the image above, which had to be cropped tighter on the left side to get my previsualized image. In future work with the 50mm and this camera, I will have a better idea on how to place the image in the viewfinder to compensate (moving the camera slightly to the right).

Returned back to Rauhallinen Farm by 1030AM, with plenty of time to develop film, scan, and post-process images.

“The best work is not what is most difficult for you; it is what you do best. ”

— Jean-Paul Sartre

First Camping and Photography Adventure of the Season

My 13 year old Schnauzer (Benny) and I had our first camping and photography adventure of the season a few weekends ago. We traveled to McClain State Park in our Scamp Camper for a Saturday and Sunday morning photo shoot at various historical sites. We started the 2.5 hour drive in solid rain until we arrived at the State Park. Rather abruptly, the rain quit and everything was dry by the time I set up the camper. Very good luck indeed!

Our first stop was Evergreen Cemetery in Eagle River, which holds graves back to 1843. The cemetery has a variety of wood and iron fences that encircle gravesites, all in various stages of decomposition.

The mosquitoes and black flies were more docile than is typical this time of the year, as it was cold and windy. After finishing in the graveyard, the next stop was a local abandoned church, where I photographed two doors that had been of interest for some time. Whenever I would want to photograph them during past excursions, either the light was poor or the snow was too deep. It is quite common to have more than five feet of snow on the ground in the Keweenaw for much of the winter.

Our next stop was the historic Osceola Copper Mine Rockhouse, which I have photographed many times with large format equipment in the past. This visit utilized the Mamiya 6 with 50mm lens and Kodak Portra 160. In addition to the Rockhouse, you will find a variety of old equipment, including outbuildings, rail cars, and large gears/parts from the mining operation. On September 7th, 1895, 30 men and boys lost their lives in a fire in Shaft #3-the largest mining disaster in Upper Peninsula history. The mine was in operation from 1873 until 1968.

Before returning to the campground to cook dinner, we stopped in Laurium to photograph the historic Laurium Manor. Wealthy mine owner, Thomas Hoatson, built this home for his wife in 1908. Today it remains a stately bed and breakfast with all the Victorian charm you would expect.

Returning to McLain State Park, I grilled Benny and I both a burger and we relaxed at the picnic table for a peaceful meal, followed by a long walk along the shores of Lake Superior, not far from the mouth of the shipping channel. It was a chilly night, down into the 30’s, so we made good use of the LP furnace in the Scamp, but kept a window above the bed open to hear the big lake and be lulled to sleep. We broke camp at 0530 and headed to Mason, for the last of the picture making. When you arrive in Mason, the first business on the right of the highway is owned by a collector of old cars, trucks, and gas station oddities from the past (Greg). I have photographed here often, as the inventory is always changing, as well as the seasons. After two rolls of T-Max 100 at the antique car lot, we headed back home to Rauhallinen Farm in Ironwood, as far west as you can go in the Upper Peninsula. Time to develop, scan, and post-process images.

The Mamiya 6 performed flawlessly and it has earned my respect as a fine travel camera. While the Hasselblad system remains my medium format camera of choice for fine art photography, it is nice to shoot informally, without a tripod, when on the move.

Lupine (Lupinus perennis L.)

This is the 12th Spring that I have had the great fortune to witness the spectacular bloom of the Wild Lupine here in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. These waist tall and majestic perennials paint the countryside like a Monet work for about two weeks. Purple, Pink, White, and shades in between fill the palette. Next week they will be at their peak and I plan on taking both the Polaroid SX-70 and the Mamiya 6 loaded with Kodak Portra to the base of the bluffs in Bessemer for a wide angle shot of the bloom in front of the towering Gogebic Range.

The dog and I will be leaving for McClain State Park in the Historic Keweenaw Peninsula early Saturday, pulling the beloved Scamp camper. First photographic excursion of the Spring and a time to relax, cook outdoors, and soak up the beauty of the lands that first attracted by family from Quebec in the 1890’s.

Mamiya 6 Review

Earlier in May of this year, I purchased a Mamiya 6 Rangefinder and 75mm lens from a Japanese dealer on Ebay, later adding both the 50mm and 150mm lenses, to complete the outfit. The camera was advertised as having a recent CLA (clean, lube, and adjust) and arrived as described, in mint condition. I briefly owned another Mamiya 6 back in the early 90’s, but it developed a film winding issue shortly after purchase, which resulted in a return. I have also owned two Mamiya 7’s (both the original and Mamiya 7II), but sold them for a Hasselblad system. Today, the Hasselblad system is my primary medium format kit for my most serious art making. The Mamiya serves as a wonderful travel camera, being much more compact and lighter than the Hasselblad system. Both cameras utilize a square format (2 1/4 inch x 2 1/4 inch or 6x6cm), which is my favorite for the way my eyes and brain manage composition. While some folks hand hold their Hasselblads, I only use a tripod with mine, to avoid any compromise in sharpness. This is where the Mamiya excels as a travel camera, as having leaf shutters built in the lens, sans camera mirror, there is no mirror slap which makes for sharp images when hand holding. Depending upon technique, It is easy to get sharp images with shutter speeds of 1/30th of a second, which for most of us, is not possible with Hasselblad off a tripod.

A most unique and wonderful feature of the Mamiya 6 is the fact that the lens housing can collapse into the camera body, making things even more compact, with or without a lens attached. This works well with smaller lightweight bags like the Domke series and allows for the camera body with lens attached, in addition to the other two lenses, to easily fit in a travel sized bag.

Used prices seem to average around $2800 for the body and 75mm lens in mint condition, with the entire collection of lenses bumping the price up to $4500. The newer Mamiya 7 series have risen to ridiculous prices and a Mamiya 7II with standard 80mm lens in mint condition will cost over five grand (with only the one lens).

There are some down sides to rangefinder cameras. The reason I got rid of my Mamiya 7II some years ago was due to the fact that they, like all rangefinder cameras, are not meant for closeup work, even in a moderate sense. No macro capability and very limited in portraiture to waist up photos, rather than tight head shots. Another shortfall is the limited number of lenses-three in the case of the Mamiya 6, where the Hasselblad 500 series had 15 dedicated lenses. While the Mamiya lenses are extremely sharp, I find the Carl Zeiss lenses of the Hasselblad system to have a slight edge in contrast and detail rendering, but very minute indeed.

A last potential negative regarding the Mamiya 6 system. Their Achilles Heel has been the film advance. It has a reputation for breaking over time. Precision Camera in Illinois is now the sole service agent for these cameras and the only source for parts to fix the film advance should it break on you. They have a fine reputation for servicing these and other cameras.

If you are looking for a compact and lightweight medium format travel camera, I think you will find the Mamiya 6 to be at the top of the list.

“A love like that was a serious illness, an illness from which you never entirely recover.”
― Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last

These three brothers from Frankenmuth, MI, have hit it big in the last few years and have become internationally renown as the modern day version of Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin. Hope to catch them live here in there home state someday.

Field Notes From Rauhallinen Farm

It has been a hiatus of a few years since retiring the previous edition of this blog. It dawned on my this past winter that I had missed writing, both about my passion for film photography, as well as life here in the wilderness of the far Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. For readers unfamiliar with the previous and long-running effort, Field Notes from Rauhallinen Farm was as much a daily diary as photography blog-music, images, poetry, and quotes, depending on the whims of the author during those given moments. I am not sure much will change, as it was as comfortable as old jeans and a favorite hat.

My oldest daughter, Antoinette, and her long-time husband, Greg, visited a few weeks ago to run the Madeline Island Marathon. We got up at 0400 to get to Bayfield on time to catch the 0600 Ferry that transported runners the two miles across Lake Superior to the largest of the Apostle Islands. It was a brisk Spring morning which required jackets on the ferry trip, as the big lake is always many degrees cooler than inland. The kids finished with very good times while I drank coffee and walked about the small town with the Mamiya 6 and scouted out images. The only Apostle Island that has full time residents. When the ferry cannot run any longer, the ice road is usually open so cars can drive to and from Bayfield-a unique Northwoods experience worth trying.

The kids are back in San Diego and life is back to quiet at the farm. Have been adding perennials, two more birch trees, and a couple of bushes to property that has 17 large perennial beds and is an ongoing work of art in progress. The stone farmhouse is 102 years and as stout as the day that Ironwood Township’s first Finnish settler built her by hand.

“In ancient times, cats were worshipped as Gods…They have not forgotten this…” Terry Pratchett