TRAVERSE CITY -- The photograph shows snowmobiles lined up on a deserted, snow-packed street on Mackinac Island.
Not many tourists to this popular Michigan getaway see the island cloaked in winter white, but now they can take in the scenery in all its four-season splendor. Traverse City photographer Terry Phipps culled through 10 years worth of island images to select the best pictures for his new book on Mackinac Island.
The University of Michigan Press, in conjunction with The Petoskey Publishing Co., are scheduled to release three photography books by Phipps in July. The books depict Mackinac Island, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Visitors toting cameras to these Michigan sites don't capture the kind of images in the books, Phipps said.
"They never have the patience to wait for the light or come back in the winter..., so we are just trying to represent something that most people won't get a shot at," he said.
During a shoot at Pictured Rocks, Phipps boarded a Boston Whaler and traveled solo to take a photo of a water spray that falls into Lake Superior. The view he snapped can only be captured from the water, he said.
Phipps worked as the official photographer for the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau for a number of years. He traveled there every six weeks, flying to the island in the winter. He learned to tell the time of day by the sound of snowmobiles roaring through town to deposit children at school.
"He knows the sky, and he knows the water and the make up of the land ... and that's what sets him apart from ... other professional photographers," said Mary McGuire Slevin, the bureau's executive director.
Phipps has been a photographer for decades. He also taught "every subject you can possibly imagine" to junior high and high-schoolers. He has written poetry and also provided articles and photographs for boating, travel and a host of other publications. Lately, magazines cut back on the use of stringers, Phipps said. That's one reason he constantly reinvents himself. He's starting an online magazine that specializes in "eclectic" travel options throughout the Great Lakes and released a book on CD about South Manitou Island.
His three most recent books are to be printed in cloth editions and priced under $15, said Stephanie Grohoski of The University of Michigan Press. Phipps expects to do additional titles on other locations if these do well.
The images of Sleeping Bear were taken within the last two years. He worked on the Pictured Rocks book for about four or five years and had thousands of images to select from for each book. McGuire Slevin said she can usually quickly identify a Phipps' photograph.
"He's (got) a great eye. He really knows how to get a picture, and he's patient with photography," she said. "He pays such attention, and I think that shows in his picture."
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