Northern Michigan Voices is a series by 9&10 News reporter Olivia Fellows in which she interviews a person in the community about a story or experience from their life. Everyone has an interesting story to tell, and we want to give you a voice, Northern Michigan! To submit your own story pitch, see the bottom of this article for more details.
In this edition, Olivia talks to photographer and Coast Guard veteran Andy Marek of Memories By Andy who spends his time outside of being a volunteer firefighter perfecting his photography skills by capturing the unique beauty of the state’s most famous landmarks and landscapes and sharing them with his over 7,000 followers.
Hear from Marek about what his favorite photography spots are, must-know photography tips and where he is planning his next photography adventure.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about your background and how you got started in photography?
MAREK: I was raised in Northern Michigan and spent my whole life here, except for five years when I was in the Coast Guard. I was born in Cadillac and six months later, was adopted into and grew up around Traverse City and Elmwood Township, spent some time in Blair and now I’m over in Green Lake Township in Interlochen.
Back in probably the midnight or mid-80s, I was in Boy Scouts and my parents happened to buy a camera when I was 35-millimeter film cameras that used to be somewhat popular, with the detachable lenses. I got interested in taking some pictures way back then.
For some reason, I stepped away from it a little bit and then cell phones came out with cameras and I was taking pictures with mine. Some people said, ‘Hey, those look kind of good,’ so I decided to go out and buy a digital camera with some detachable lenses. I started taking pictures, got some editing software, edited them a little bit and started to realize I was creating some pretty decent images.
I spent the next several years honing my craft, if you will, thanks to groups like the Traverse City Camera Club, which I’m a part of and some of the friends I made through there going out and just taking a lot of pictures, and as a result, started to develop an eye and how to use a camera set with different settings to get some different appearances from the images.
I watched a lot of YouTube videos to help me learn some more skills and techniques to get some different looks there. I love camping and hiking and traveling, so carrying those cameras with me I’ll shoot 1000 pictures at a time when I go out for the day, just to see what the different settings in the camera will look like. Shooting from a different angle or changing the settings on a camera can change how that image looks drastically.
Q: How have you honed the way you like to shoot particular shots? Do you how do you decide which locations to shoot or is it spontaneous?
MAREK: I wish I could say I was a genius to spend a lot of time planning my trips, but I wake up in the morning, sometimes at six o’clock and say I’m heading up to the up for the weekend. I like waterfalls, I like the pictured rocks area and the Porcupine Mountains. There’s just so much there to capture.
Heck, even in Traverse City, there’s a lot of stuff you can get that is gorgeous in the area. I found myself drawn to waterfalls and some scenic overlooks that we just don’t have here in the area. I love exploring the up is kind of my getaway. I always joke I live in God’s country, and I vacation in God’s country north, and I cross the bridge, so I go up there, and I travel across the up to see what new sites I can find when I’m up there.
Q: What is your approach in finding balance in showcasing those iconic landmarks, but also finding fresh and unique perspectives?
MAREK: One of the things that I’ve become almost addicted to is Google Maps and Google Earth, where you can get a satellite view of the area that you’re in. I try to find a place that might give me an angle or a view of some of the locations and I’ve tried to get some different angles or from a different location, or I’ve gotten drone photography as well. With the aerial photography of the drone, you can get some stuff that people just don’t see in normal photography.
Now it’s getting more and more challenging with drone photography because there are people putting signs up that say no drones allowed. I want to be respectful of people’s opinions on that, but the air space is controlled by the FAA. You can go and you can fly in a lot of these areas that people believe you can’t, as long as you’re flying on state or federal ordinances. But I try to be respectful at popular places, I try to get there a lot earlier before people are there so I can fly the drone and not disrupt other people’s ability to enjoy these beautiful spaces we are lucky enough to have pretty close to home here.
Kitch-iti-kipi from above near Manistique in the Upper Peninsula.
One of many Upper Peninsula waterfalls.
Mist at a Kitch-iti-kipi lookout near Manistique in the Upper Peninsula.
Q: Michigan has a rich historical culture, does that play any role in your photography at all?
MAREK: There are some areas like the Fayette ghost town that I’ve recently found in the last four or five years, I’ve just fallen in love with it. That shows the history of some of what happened after the mining in Michigan. You also got the copper mining up there ion the Upper Peninsula. I fell in love with some of the stuff that goes on there.
There’s an old dredge, but Fayette really shows the next step after this stuff is out of the ground, and how they take the iron and make it into these iron pigs that then got shipped down to like Detroit and of the stuff that was being done with the iron and the states restored that area. This was a state park now it is a historic park. There’s a campground, there’s just gorgeous and there’s the surrounding area.
The history of some of the areas is starting to become more and more prevalent in some of the stuff I’m doing because I’m starting to discover areas that I hadn’t visited in the past because they were a little bit out of the way. About an hour or so south of Manistique, there’s nothing else really there other than the historic site and some Lakeshore site scenes. When I go up there, I try to get as many of the waterfalls and what have you as I can. Those little detours kind of detract from the ability to do that and add to the miles that you’re putting on the vehicle.
Q: What has it been like for you in sharing your work and what has the feedback that you’ve gotten been like?
MAREK: I had all these photos that I was able to enjoy for myself and thought maybe someone else might like a few, so started putting some up on Facebook, and it took me forever. It seemed to get a following, and I think it’s now at 7,000 followers, give or take.
As I’ve been going, there have been a few folks who have followed me from early on and have commented about how they enjoy the pictures. The more of a following I get, or the more shares I get and the more comments, it makes me feel kind of good that the work I’m being I’m doing is being enjoyed by other people.
I started posting more and more recently because they’re not doing any good on my hard drive. I’ve got eight hard drives at two terabytes a piece with images on them dating back probably to 2017. Some of those older pictures I’d been sharing just to get them out there, because if people are enjoying them, why not get them there? Oddly enough, Facebook started to send me some small checks, 20 bucks for a month. Nice little stubs and it is a little extra to help offset some of the cost of doing this.
It was just kind of a shock to start to see some real money coming from social media, but I appreciate the comments, the likes and the little hearts. They just make me feel good that what I’m doing is being enjoyed. I try to share that love as well.
When I see someone else doing some work that I enjoy, I want to give them a little like so that they know it’s not being all done in vain. I keep posting because I enjoy seeing what they’re doing as well, especially Michigan Sky Media, some of their drone stuff has just been stunning. They’ve done some stuff with helicopters that just blew my mind.
Q: What advice would you have for an aspiring photographer who might be hoping to capture similar natural beauty?
MAREK: I think the biggest thing is you have to have your camera on you. It doesn’t matter if it’s your cell phone camera, if it’s your digital camera you purchased, you’ve got to be taking pictures. The more you take, you get to go back and look at the picture, say, ‘What do I like about this? What don’t I like about this? What could I do differently?’ When first started I was taking about 2,000 pictures in a day.
Now I’ve cut it back to between 500 and 1000 just so I can see what the different images you know, what the different takes are, whether I’m shooting something from a couple of inches off the ground or holding it up over my head to get the picture. That changes how that image looks. Pay attention to where the sun is when you’re taking the pictures because what you’re really doing is capturing light, and knowing how the light, your angles and how you’re you hold the camera in the settings all play a part in the images that you create.
The more pictures you take, and the more you look at what you’ve done and remember how you got it, the better your pictures will get as you proceed forward with your whether it’s a hobby or a career.
Q: How has your connection to the region deepened through your photography and what do you hope the viewers and the followers that you have take away when they see your images?
MAREK: The one thing that carrying the camera and going out to take a picture with purpose has forced me to do is to stop and look at what I’m taking a picture of, versus just walking by. You go up to the falls, an absolutely gorgeous area, and I’ll be there for one of the viewing platforms for an hour or two, and I’ll watch a ton of people come up, hold their camera, take that picture of the fall and move on. What you’re not seeing when you’re doing when you’re taking that quick picture and moving on is, you’re not seeing all the other beauty that’s in the area. The river that flows down from the falls, goes around the bend the trees, and how things are changing as time goes on.
I’m hoping that if people look at some of my pictures over time, they can see that although our area is the same, there are changes that are happening as time goes on. At the falls, there have been some trees that have fallen there that have changed the look of the falls, not for the better or for the worse, it’s just different.
We overlook that sometimes because we’re in such a hurry to get where we’re going, and it’s made me realize it’s okay to slow down and take a look from time to time and not be in such a hurry. I hope that some of these small details people pick up and maybe take a moment themselves to slow down and enjoy the area that we’re lucky enough to call home.
Q: Do you have any places that you haven’t been yet or a bucket list of places that you’d like to photograph in the future?
MAREK: One of the things I really want to do, and I’d hoped to do it this year but time got away from me, is around the lakes around the state of Michigan and capture all the lighthouses that are available that you can see from land. I want to start here in Traverse City, at Old Mission Peninsula, go all the way around going counterclockwise, up into the UP and come back. I’d love to do that in one trip.
Unfortunately, I’ve got other responsibilities, being a business owner, working for the township and working for some fire departments that make it difficult for me to get that, probably a two-week trip to to make that loop and get all the lighthouses in one one shot. I just think that’d be a really cool trip. And I could probably make a cool photo book of the lighthouses of Michigan, doing one journey and explaining how you get to them and some of the history behind them.
Q: If you could collaborate with any other artist or photographer on a project who would it be, and why?
MAREK: There are so many great ones around the country, but here locally, Tyler from Michigan Sky Media. He does a lot of stuff, of helicopters. It would be amazing to be able to collaborate with him and learn some of the stuff he does with the use of helicopters for his pictures versus drone photography. You get just a different perspective.
Q: When you’re not doing photography capturing Northern Michigan’s beauty, what do you enjoy doing and what do you want people to know about you outside of your photography work?
MAREK: I just really enjoy camping. I’ve got a motor home I’ve been able to enjoy the last couple of years, got a seasonal site here in Northern Michigan that want to be able to spend more time at and just be able to enjoy the nature that we’ve got here. We are truly blessed, at least I am truly blessed to go to call Northern Michigan home, even in this cold, snowy weather that we’ve got.
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Have an interesting story of your own? Email Olivia and provide a brief summary of your story, and we will contact you if we’d like to tell your tale. We’re interested in all sorts of stories, too! Sad, happy, exhilarating, inspiring or educational— we’d like to know about your story and share it with the community!
Note: We will ask for photos as well (or take one if possible), it helps immensely if you can have pictures ready.