Readers choice ranking of favorite photographs posted to Instagram in 2021: Marionettes, James Bond watches topped list

As a nod to our sole active participation in social media, Saline Journal has taken a look back at themed-day images posted to Instagram last year. [1,2]

Here’s a countdown of the top eight.

8. “Hot Enough for Ya Day?” July 23

This photograph dates to February 2, 2013, and was taken on North Maple Road at the intersection of East Michigan Avenue — across from the Davenport-Curtiss House. The camera used was a Sony RX-100 Mark I, which not only proved itself “the best camera” as the one available when the image presented itself, but also the model that launched a line still popular through its current Mark VII successor.

7. “World Snow Day,” January 17

Port Huron is the venue here, looking out onto the Blue Water Bridge. It was taken almost six years to-the-day prior to its posting, while field testing a Panasonic Lumic LX100.

6. “Black History Month,” February

This photograph of Tarish Pipkins during his final marionette performance of “Jeghetto’s Workshop” at Detroit Institute of Arts carried a mix of emotions. Taken near the end of February 2020, it was one of the last “old normal” events before life in America changed with “15 Days to Slow the Spread.” Additionally bittersweet was the glimpse that it provided into what Saline could have been (if not should have been), were the Meredith Bixby legacy been taken along a richer path. [3-8]

5. “Cliché Day,” November 3

This 1962 Rolex Explorer model 1016 is what Ian Fleming had in mind when he wrote about the true original James Bond watch in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It was featured here, on this day, as reminder of the fine line that new motion pictures must respect to avoid reducing Easter Eggs to trite cliché. [9-11]

4. “Black History Month,” February

Another interesting reminder of how the world changed with the advent of COVID-19. Here, these two young women had the opportunity to go hands-on with the professional nursing program during “Free College Day” at Washtenaw Community College in April of 2019. One year later, nurses broadly labeled “heroes.” Eighteen months after that, hundreds of front-line heroes were out of jobs over disputes about government mandates related to their SARS-CoV-2 service. [12-14]

3. “All or Nothing Day,” July 26

Considering this close enough to the James Bond film maker motto “Everything or Nothing,” is photograph references the Seiko model DK001 reference 0674-5009 wristwatch featured in The Spy Who Loved Me. This wristwatch is currently on display in the “James Bond Wore the Quartz Revolution” gallery at the National Watch & Clock Museum. [15,16]

2.”Bicycle Day,” April 19

This entertainment à la Penny-Farthings was photographed the Friday prior to posting, during Member Preview Day for Greenfield Village 2021 season opening.

1. “I Want You to Be Happy Day,” March 3

Erik Grossman knew that late Meredith Bixby, well, and was deeply interested in all aspects of the craft of bringing puppeteering from figure and set fabrication, to stage performances before live audiences. In March of 2019, Mr Grossman breathed life once again, albeit briefly, into the “Meredith’s Marionettes” legacy, at Saline District Library in a program sponsored by Saline Area Historical Society.

All who attended would surely agree that this was, in fact, a most happy day. Those who viewed and voted on the Saline Journal Instagram feed appropriately saw that as well in this top-rated image. [17]

References

1. Checkiday (home page).
2. Saline Journal (Instagram feed).
3. “‘Jeghetto’s Workshop’ string-puppet performances at DIA were precision mechanics, energy, and amazement” Dell Deaton (February 23, 2020) Saline Journal.
4. “15 Days to Slow the Spread” (March 16, 2020) The White House.
5. “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)” CDC.
6. “Novel Coronavirus Reports” CDC.
7. “A Brief Look Back On The Meredith Bixby Marionette Story, Part I: History Can’t Be Packed Away In A Single Box” Dell Deaton (September 20, 2018) Saline Journal.
8. “A Brief Look Back On The Meredith Bixby Marionette Story, Part II: Saline Once Hosted Museum, Held Puppet Festivals” Dell Deaton (September 21, 2018) Saline Journal.
9. “James Bond Watches NAWCC 2009 Part 5” jamesbondwatches (December 30, 2009) YouTube.
10. “Dell Deaton explains ‘James Bond Watches’ at the National Watch and Clock Museum” Hodinkee (September 19, 2010) Vimeo.
11. “James Bond Watches: Alpha to Omega” jamesbondwatches (September 24, 2010) YouTube.
12. “Realistic in terms of look and body functioning, patient simulators are helping train nurses for ‘elite’ performance” Dell Deaton (April 8, 2019) Saline Journal.
13. “The ‘nurse as hero’ discourse in the COVID-19 pandemic: A poststructural discourse analysis” Tieghan Killackey, Jane Maciver, Shan Mohammed, and Elizabeth Peter (May 2021) International Journal of Nursing Studies.
14. “400 Henry Ford Health employees quit over COVID-19 vaccine mandate; 92% fully vaccinated” Robin Erb, Kristen Jordan Shamus, and Kate Wells (October 5, 2021) Detroit Free Press.
15. “Seiko 0674 LCD James Bond watch v006” (August 7, 2012) James Bond Watch Photos.
16. “James Bond Wore the Quartz Revolution (exhibit)” Dell Deaton (June 1, 2015) Vimeo.
17. “This is where the path begins for return of ‘Meredith’s Marionettes’ to its properly recognized place on world stage” Dell Deaton (January 4, 2019) =Saline Journal.