The Record Eagle reports:

Geared to spark young photographers, these enticing words blaze from posters advertising the 11th annual Student Photography Competition. A yearly event hosted by the Traverse Area Camera Club, the contest is open to students in grades 9-12 in Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau and Wexford counties.

With an entry deadline of Jan. 26, students are invited to enter up to three photos in the following categories: landscapes and waterscapes, architecture, human interest and photographer's choice. Printed photos may be film or digital, black and white or color, Photoshopped or straight up -- the sky's the limit. Entries should be unframed and unmatted; it's all about the image.

For more information, read the rest of the Record Eagle article here. Or visit the Traverse Area Photography Club's website! Good luck to all the students!

Photo credit: Haven Steinebach, TC West Junior

The Mill by Keenan May. Be sure to check out Keenan's slideshow for more great shots of the area.

Enjoy more by newsgirl23! Check out her slideshow on flickr!

State Hospital Memorial Marker For Traverse Colantha Walker (Traverse City, MI), photo by takomabibelot.

Post courtsey of Michigan in Pictures!

From World Champion Cow of the Insane at Roadside America:

Northern Michigan Asylum opened in 1885 and gradually became a sprawling complex on the western outskirts of Traverse City. It was so vast that it had orchards of cherries, peaches and apples, vineyards and vegetable gardens, field crops, and livestock from beef to chickens, horses to pigs. And it had its own herd of cows.

The most famous of these — the most famous inhabitant, period, of the entire Asylum — was Traverse Colantha Walker. She was a grand champion milk cow, producing 200,114 pounds of milk and 7,525 pounds of butterfat in her long life. When she died in 1932 the hospital staff and patients held a banquet in her honor. They buried her in a small, grassy knoll, under a marble tombstone, outside of the stately brick dairy barn that had been her home.

The inaugural Traverse Colantha Walker Dairy Festival will take place on Saturday, September 12, 2009 at the Grand Traverse Commons.

See this bigger right here and also check out takomabibelot’s slideshow. The marker reads:

Traverse Colantha Walker
361604
Born 4-29-1916
Died 1-8-1932
World’s Champion Cow
Milk 200,114.9 lbs.
Fat 7,525.8 lbs.
Nine Lactations
Bred, Owned, Developed
By Traverse City Hospital