Figure 1: Lake Superior, Michigan, Stevi McNeill 2020
Mid-September we spent some time in the upper peninsula of Michigan on the property of family friends. I have never been up there before and found it to be absolutely beautiful. The land has been in the family since the early 1900s and comes with a rich history. It was a girls camp that opened in 1914. It was owned and ran by Helen and J.B. Ross, two sisters that wanted to empower young women in a time when that was not encouraged. They wanted to create a space where they could learn and grow into capable, confident women.
I was lucky to sit down with Don and Julia (current owners) and went through the beautiful photo albums and videos of the camp and heard more about the history, experiences and the life that Helen and J.B. wanted to create for young women. Something that I value and appreciate very much, as my this project started with a desire and urge to discover more about my history and heritage.
As this project develops, it is more apparent to me that I am documenting my personal journey in finding my connections to the land, my community and how I live my life here. Every trip I make is a way of connecting with myself, the people in my life and gaining a deeper understanding of what it all means to me. All my images are small refections of the moments that contribute to a deeper understanding of what's important to me and is helping me to find a foundation to speak for other things I that matter to me.
Figures 2: Upper Peninsula Michigan, Stevi McNeill, 2020
As I reflect on the images I made during this trip, I am pleased with how they turned out. I have wanted to focus more on human-made structures rather than just the landscape, and I felt I had the perfect opportunity on this trip to do that. I think that by adding in more structures and objects helps balance the narrative that I am trying to convey, I feel that it fills in the gaps I was missing in my work.
Other things I wanted to consider during this trip was shooting in colour.
I have been working mostly in black and white but wanted to see what results and how I would feel about having some colour images in the final outcome. Overall I liked how some of the colour photos came out and will consider shooting more, but prefer the atmosphere of the black and white images.
The other thing I wanted to experiment with was photographing objects ( mostly rock and sticks etc.) at the location I find them - see figure 1 Somewhat inspired by Angela Blažanović as I find myself not always having the time to set up the still lifes back at home. I like the idea of showing the full circle of people, place and object. Unforantly I did not get as many of those images as I wanted, but moving forward I would like to incorporate them more.
Figures 14: The Sauna, Upper Peninsula Michigan, Stevi McNeill, 2020
Figures 15: The Sauna, Upper Peninsula Michigan, Stevi McNeill, 2020