Wedding photos from inside abandoned Michigan Central Station

Sometimes it is fun to go back and look at shoots from previous years. Most times it is a realization of how much my work has improved, which is true of this shoot, but this set of photos also gives me the warm and fuzzies. Mike and Corina were the first couple to put their trust in me to shoot their wedding. My wedding portfolio was small but both are architects and had an appreciation of my architectural photography. Naturally we had to try and shoot in one of Detroit’s grandest buildings, which at the time in 2009, was completely wide open for people to wander through.

It was this shoot that pushed me into pursuing wedding photography full time. The light that morning was incredible, between the muted tones of the skyline, to the light pouring into the lobby, the planets aligned for something that was truly special. Although I would shoot it much differently today, I will also share and speak fondly of this shoot and appreciate the two people that made it possible.

UPDATE: These images were taken in 2009. At the time of this blog post Ford Motor Company is currently rehabilitating the building to create a Detroit campus for the company. I had the opportunity to document the start of the renovation process for the BBC in 2019, essentially 10 years after this shoot. You can view that collection of images here: Michigan Central Station photographs for the BBC

How a Detroiter came to shoot a wedding on Lopez Island during a pandemic.

Planning a wedding can be difficult and stressful in the best of times, much less during a global pandemic. Molly + Rafi experienced that first hand with their wedding. An April date was changed to June in hopes that things would improve for the festivities they had planned in Ann Arbor. Come June though things weren’t looking any better and they had to reschedule again. The only problem this time was that they were moving across the country and it no longer made sense to have the wedding in Michigan. I put on my thinking cap and came up with the only logical solution… ROAD TRIP!

With my schedule being far more open than I had anticipated the planets aligned and provided an opportunity for me to still photograph Molly + Rafi’s intimate nuptials on Lopez Island in Washington. Given my itch to travel during the quarantine I decided to make this wedding and this trip my “vacation” from 2020. I wanted to see and experience places that I hadn’t before, so the trek would take me to Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and Seattle before settling on Lopez Island for a few days. It was exactly what I needed for this year. It was daunting to take on such a long trip solo but something about me and the open road clicked, although the 16 hour day of driving tested that. The following are just a small sampling of the images I took along the way. Enjoy.

Milwaukee

First stop on the trip was Milwaukee. I have an affinity for Rust Belt cities and I have always wanted to visit Milwaukee. Great history, great beer and a Santiago Calatrava designed museum that I have always wanted to see in person. I started off visiting a set of Frank Lloyd Wright designed row houses before heading downtown to spend some time at the Milwaukee Art Museum. They have a nice collection of artwork and the Calatrava portion of the museum was fun to photograph, although I am not sure I will ever be happy with what I captured. If you are a member of the Detroit Institute of Arts admission is free, so that was a nice little bonus. After the museum I photographed the waterfront area and wandered the city before calling it a night. The next morning I went back for images at sunrise. I was disappointed that the “wings” of the museum were closed but I still think the images came out nicely.

After Milwaukee the next stop on my trip was Minneapolis. I ended up putting in 8 miles of walking and exploring the city but unfortunately it was raining or misting the entire time I was there. I didn’t want to risk the camera or drone getting too wet so this part of the trip will have no documentation. I did get to enjoy some works by Minuru Yamasaki, Gunnar Birkerts and Frank Gehry though. A return trip post-Covid with the camera will be necessary.

The plan after Minneapolis was to drive to Island Park, Idaho where I would be staying for a few days to experience Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Along the way I made a quick stop at Theodore Roosevelt National Park where I would see my first bison of the trip. It would be the first of many wildlife encounters which is exactly what this city boy wanted.

Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park has been a place I have always wanted to visit. It seems like a location that is on everyone’s checklist for things to see in America, which actually worried me. I have found that most destinations that are popular or built up (cough, cough, Mount Rushmore, cough, cough) tend to disappoint when I finally get around to experiencing them. Yellowstone lived up to the hype for me. It was a gorgeous day, which no doubt helped, but the vistas and wildlife were incredible. I started exploring at sunrise and didn’t end up leaving until the evening, eyes and mouth agape the entire time. Even months later as I write this there isn’t a day I don’t think about my experience in the park and how badly I want to go back.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

The cabin I rented in Idaho was placed somewhat between Yellowstone and Grand Teton. On the map it looked like a logical choice but the result was that I was almost an hour and half away from the entrance to each park. That means to shoot sunrise you have to get up incredibly early, not just to get to the park, but where I wanted to start was the West Thumb Geyser Basin which was almost another 45 minutes of driving once you entered. It was worth it. The sunrise was frigid but it set the tone for a great day of photography to come.

My first wildlife encounter of the day was a herd of Elk. I am not a hunter and I don’t spend much time exploring the woods of Michigan so encountering an animal of this size in the wild was pretty thrilling.

Mud Volcano

Mud Volcano was my favorite stop in the park. The nice part of being in the park in late September is that the mornings are cold enough for frost which leads to some really surreal looking scenes. I am sure that this area is spectacular no matter what, but the combination of frost, steam and sunlight was otherworldly. My photos really don’t do the experience of being there justice.

The second wildlife encounter of the day was this lone coyote. I would love to claim that it was my keen eye that spotted this fella on the tundra but when you are driving around Yellowstone you quickly learn to pull over whenever you see a row of cars parked, even if you don’t know why they are there. After ten minutes of photographing him wandering I started on my route again and that is when I started spotting bison. At first I was worried that I wouldn’t see any but quickly realized that they were pretty much everywhere. I don’t have an official count but I feel like saying that I saw several hundred wouldn’t be an exaggeration at all. It never got old.

As I was driving through the park I made my way towards Mammoth Hot Springs. As I drove into town a family of elk were meandering between cars and near people. I parked and decided to see if I could get some shots of them interacting with motorists. As I was walking through a wooded area to make my way to them I stumbled upon several that were laying in the brush. I had a moment of panic since I didn’t realize they were there until I was a mere twelve feet away. They clearly were used to people though and I was able to get a few shots before slowly moving away. It was the closest I would get to any wild animal while in the park.

Grand Prismatic Spring

From what I have gathered I think I visited the Grand Prismatic Spring at the wrong time of day. Other images I have seen of this area seem to pop a bit more but it was still a cool to see. The images are a bit flat so you don’t get a great feel for it but the area is massive with really lovely gradients of color and texture.

Old Faithful

Although it was last on my list of must see things in the park I made the obligatory pilgrimage to Old Faithful. I timed it up pretty well so I didn’t have to wait too long to see it go off. Perhaps it was just me and issue with places meeting expectations but I was completely underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong, it was impressive, but I just wasn’t wowed by the experience. Next time I make it to the park I think I will skip returning here.

Grand Teton National Park

When I first was planning my trip I was going to spend two days exploring Yellowstone before moving onto the west coast. After being told that I needed to see Grand Teton and some fellow shooters telling me they preferred the park to Yellowstone I decided to split my time between the two. I am glad I did. I read that sunrise at Mormon Row was a must. I just didn’t expect to be one of three dozen people with cameras trying to capture the subject. It was a frustrating experience to say the least. I had framed my shot and was waiting on the sun and while sitting there three shooters would jump in front of me and block my frame. Everyone was at the same spot jockeying for space and It honestly took away from the view. I snapped a few frames of the iconic barn but I had much more fun shooting some of the other structures in the area, ones without inconsiderate crowds.

I didn’t see as much wildlife as I had the previous day in Yellowstone but I was able to get close to some horses and what may be my new favorite animal, the Pronghorn. I was hoping to see some Moose or Bighorn Sheep in the park, which I saw neither of, and the Pronghorn wasn’t even on my radar. When I spotted them I instantly fell in love. They were plentiful, which was nice, but they were just derpy as all hell which made them a hoot to document and observe. I also was fortunate to stumble across a Fox while exiting the park, but I wasn’t quite able to get a great snap of it. Like Yellowstone I want to come back here and spend days exploring instead of just an afternoon.

Seattle

After the national parks my next stop was a few hours in Seattle. Unlike the other locations on the trip I had actually been to Seattle previously in 2008. A lot has changed between my visits so I wanted to go on a very brief architectural tour. I walked up to the cultural center where the Space Needle is and stopped at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to photograph the grounds there. I also wanted to check out the headquarters that Amazon had built, specifically the spheres. It was particularly interesting to be in the middle of their campus with almost no people around, reminiscent of what Amazon has done to retail districts across the country. Unfortunately I couldn’t spend much time exploring since I was running low on energy and desperate need of sleep.

Lopez Island

The final destination on my trip was Lopez Island, the location of the wedding and where I could relax for a few days. To get there I had to drive an hour and a half north of Seattle and then take a ferry to the island. It is so close to Canada that my phone kept pinging towers north of the border, something I am actually used to living in Detroit. My first day on the island I decided to go on a long hike in the hopes of seeing some seals and sea lions. I had been hiking for 30 minutes without seeing any seals when I noticed a foul stench on the air. I couldn’t see what was causing it but I had a feeling it was what I was seeking. A climbed up over a hill and sure enough, on the rocks across from me were dozens of seals. I think I sat down for an hour just watching these hilarious blobs move around and bicker with one another. It was adorable.

The second day on the island was the weddings. I had originally planned to leave on Sunday but Molly, Rafi, and their family were kind enough to invite me with them to go whale watching. I gleefully accepted. A theme throughout this post has been that my images don’t do the subjects justice, this is no different. It was incredible watching a family of orcas move through the water together hunting. At one point they caught a porpoise and you could see them taking turns eating. It was incredible.

The only way I can end this is by sharing an image of the amazing family that made it possible. The first time I met Molly and Rafi they invited me into their home where we had drinks and discussed the original plans for their wedding. That was just a small preview of the warmth that their family would shower upon me once I got to the island. They treated me like one of their own and made sure I was always taken care of. During a year of difficulty and isolation it was lovely to spend time with such a welcoming and amazing group of people. I will forever be grateful for this trip and the experience.

Our New Normal

It goes without saying that we are all entering uncharted territory. The struggle to address health concerns while returning to some sense of normal is very real. It feels like there are lots of questions and we are short on answers at the moment, especially when it comes to the wedding industry. It may be some time before we can safely put on the large events that we have grown accustomed to, but that doesn’t mean you still can’t have a lovely and meaningful wedding.

In May 2020 Ed and Nancy approached me about shooting their tiny elopement. I was nervous, curious and excited to photograph their small ceremony. It gave me the opportunity to shoot with a mask, to practice social distancing while also trying to showcase the intimacy of the event. It was a reminder of why we do this in the first place… to celebrate the love of two people who want to spend the rest of their lives together. Sometimes that can get lost in the pageantry and craziness that accompanies larger events. That was stripped away here. It was just two people getting married and it was lovely.

Due to the sun, the decision was made to Zoom the wedding in an outdoor ceremony at a nearby park. In a wise move, enough time was left prior to the ceremony start to figure things out on the technical side. After we figured out setting up the Zoom call, and just as we were thinking that the one possible hiccup had been overcome, the sky opened up and began to sprinkle right as the ceremony began (of course!). Thankfully, the officiant came prepared with an umbrella and the ceremony went on. Honestly, it's the little moments like that that make each wedding special and unique. There may have been some brief panic with the Zoom call, the rain, etc. but ultimately it led to some great photographs.

We may ultimately have to change our expectations of what each of our “dream” weddings are, but Ed and Nancy’s wedding showed me that they won’t be any less special, any less unique, and any less fun. We will get through this, and I would be thrilled to document your day. Drop me a line through my ‘Contact’ page and lets talk about how to make your day memorable.