Photographic Logbook: Civilization Photographs

Photos of places I've worked and lived over the years, plus other eye-catching works of humanity spread across the landscape.

August 14, 2004: A portion of the marina along the Black River in South Haven, MI. Our buddy Cap'n Dave (not to be confused with the other Dave) moors his sailboat here. Routine overflights are necessary to keep tabs on Cap'n Dave's activities - provided that he leaves the potato gun at home. This photograph was taken by Cap'n Dave himself during his first flight with me. Notice our impeccable timing: the drawbridge (lower middle) was open at the time we flew overhead.

October 9, 2003 and April 28, 2006: "Kalamazoo Michigan - Before and After" A significant portion of downtown Kalamazoo is dominated by the Upjohn / Pharmacia R&D complex, shown in the top photo as it looked in 2003 when Pfizer acquired it. The site included the large white building (Building 300) and the roughly triangular campus at center of frame. Many of the older buildings were demolished by Pfizer in 2005, as shown in the bottom photograph. With the loss of thirteen story Building 25 and seven story Building 209, the skyline is significantly altered.

October 9, 2003: Kalamazoo is a medium-sized city in southwest Michigan situated roughly halfway between Detroit and Chicago. We lived in the Kalamazoo area from 1999 until 2006 and thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

October 12, 2003: Photos of our first home in Portage, Michigan. We owned this house from February 2000 until December 2005. Dave was kind enough to circle and annoy my neighbors while I sat in the back seat and took these photos.

December 7, 2003: As we overflew Gun Lake (located between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids) we noticed this interesting community on the southwest corner of the lake. An array of canals makes it possible to reach every home by boat. Very cool.

August 7, 2004: Looking north over downtown Flint, MI from 5500 feet. From this perspective, you can even see the red brick used to pave Saginaw Street through downtown. The campus of the University of Michigan - Flint can be seen along the south bank of the Flint River, starting in the center of the frame and moving toward the rightmost edge.

August 7, 2004: This spider-like junction of I-69 and I-475 is a dramatic departure from the traditional clover leaf. The interchange is located southeast of downtown Flint. From the ground, it seems like a mess; tentacles strewn every which way. From the air, the grand design of the whole thing can finally be discerned.

As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan - Flint, I lived in an apartment in the East Village, the heavily wooded older neighborhood at the upper left of the frame. That apartment had everything:

A five minute walk to campus (across that overpass in the upper left-hand corner - a bit brisk in the winter).
Low rent ($325 / mo, heat included, split two ways!).
A built in alarm clock. The woman upstairs would often wake us up at 7:00 am on the weekends playing George Michael's "Faith" album loud enough that we could clearly identify it. Early morning vacuuming was another way to make sure we were up and at 'em earlier than we might otherwise have chosen.

October 10, 2004: Departing from Dalton airport in Kristy's home town of Flushing, MI, we observed this fine hybrid of whimsy and civil engineering. I began to wonder if there was a Keep On Truckin' water tower anywhere nearby. Photo by Kristy.

April 13, 2003: A bird's-eye view of the Pharmacia Corporation R&D/manufacturing site (bought by Pfizer in 2003) in Portage, Michigan. In the fall of 1999, freshly emancipated from graduate school, I hired into the Pharmaceutical Development group of R&D as an analytical chemist in a method development lab. I worked here until December 2005.

July 25, 2004: Another, greener, angle on the (now) Pfizer complex in Portage, MI.