Good to have you on board! I’m looking forward to seeing your urban photos of Asheville.

I love your old mine photos. I grew up in a Copper/Iron Mining District in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I have found the remains of old Igloo shaped structures here though the walls were not as thick as the ones you show. Our area is heavily forested with hardwood. The kilns were used to produce charcoal that was then used in the mine and train boilers. Coal was to expensive and the area was relatively inaccessible except by boat.

You are up in my old stompin’ grounds. You might be a little early for the peak Fall colors, but some of my friends have been posting Aurora photographs in the Keweenaw Peninsula: Misery Bay, Eagle River, Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor. If you get to Houghton stop in at the Keweenaw Brewing Company and have a beer with Dick, the owner. Tell him I said “Hi” 😄 Best beer in the area.

I like the middle photo.

I agree with Manglesphoto. Having her in the picture would help explain to a viewer what was going on when you took the picture.

Very nice pictures. An Alaska cruise is on my bucket list.
No. 7 reminded me of having to memorize the prelude to Evangeline back in the early 60’s.
“This is the forest primeval, the murmuring Pines and the Hemlock, bearded in moss and in garments green, Indistinct in the twilight….”. I’ve forgotten the rest.

Related to your question in part. My wife put together a photo album of her side of the family who had immigrated from Finland and what she found was that almost no one took the time to mark the back of the photographs in pencil to indicate who, why and where. They knew all that information but kept it in their heads and talked about it at family gatherings. The next generation would look at the same picture, see it was “Uncle Hank”, but might not know where or why a photo was taken. The next generation sees the picture and knows nothing about it at all. In no case did anyone record who took the picture. There is no one left in my wife’s family old enough to ask for information.
Late in life I was entrusted with my family photographs- snapshots and professionally done. My great grandfather and his wife came to the USA from Ireland. They had 6 boys and 6 girls. I know their names only because one of their children’s children had the foresight to learn and record them. It was interesting in that he didn’t put the names down on the photos until years later preferring to keep them in his head. Most of the photos are of unnamed relatives at unrecorded events in unrecorded locations. It is easy for me to see why no one wants the photos anymore-they’ve become pictures of strangers you suspect you’re related to, but aren’t sure and unless there is a known historic item or location in the picture what’s the point in hanging on to it. Like my wife, I have no one older than me to ask questions of.
Using my children as examples, our society has become so mobile that photo albums are just so much dead weight that is hard to cram in the back of a small U-Haul trailer. I guess what I’m trying to say in my roundabout way is that unless you, the photographer, are writing down The Who, What, Where, When and Why about each photo you take now then your grandkids will know little of that information to pass on, and your great grandchildren, especially when they are older, will not know any of it.

Looks like a good few good nights for seeing & shooting Northern Lights

(Download)

My Bad
I have a Nikkon 28mm-300mm walk-around lens. A year and a half into a 2 year warranty I started seeing fibers inside the lens and thought they ‘weren’t bad”. It turned out the part that holds the lens at a chosen zoom length. When it did get bad enough for me to do something, the lens would extend on its own to its full length when it was pointed at the ground. By this time the warranty had expired and I had to pay the total repair cost myself. Lesson learned: don’t wait.
It sounds like your lens is out of warranty.

I like that one! Gives me the sensation of a chaotic trip down the hill.

Pretty much any lens will work, but Wide Angle and Normal lenses will give you more field of view. You will also need a tripod because your exposures will be around 20 seconds. Shooting the Milky Way will be about the same settings.

After being residents of the Copper Country for 70 years, my wife and I just moved to be near our kids and grand kids in Minnesota. If you have Facebook you can look for a Group called “You know you’re from the Copper Country when”. Lots of local posts: scenes, recipes, aurora photographs, mining history. Copper Harbor, although a tiny town, has a Community Center that can give you local information. There is also a Group that emphasizes the Mining and Cultural History of the area. Lately there have been a lot of Aurora posts.

An App like Aurora is good to have along. It will give you the likelihood of seeing the Northern Lights. The top of Brockway Mountain offers an unobstructed view of Lake Superior as is the Copper Harbor Overlook on the way up Brockway Mountain. I don’t know how mobile you are, but Horseshoe Bay and the shoreline at Fort Wilkins SP are nice locations but you will have to walk some distance in the dark. The Aurora moves around, comes and goes so you are not guaranteed a show. You would be visiting during the Fall Color season so book a hotel ahead. There are some, but not many rooms or places to eat in Copper Harbor and the next hotels are in Calumet (35 miles) and Houghton (47 miles). Even if you don’t see the Aurora you do have the Fall colors and dark sky if you like photographing the Milky Way. Although the days can be comfortable, nights can get very cold near Lake Superior, so bring warm clothes just in case. PM me if I can be of more specific assistance.

I keep the “Weather Live” App on my iphone. Besides the weather it shows me the Golden Hour and the Blue hours. It will only do it on the current date, but it is a free download.

Isn’t that a Boathouse and not a Houseboat?
It has a look of permanency about it.
I like the photograph whatever you call it.

Dang me! I must be at or above that “certain age”, because I got it.