Michigan Mineralogical Society
Michigan Mineralogical Society
Photo Contest
Currently Running club competitionS
We formally announce our next annual club photography contest. We are actively taking club member photography submissions for our 5th club-wide Millie Hurt Mineral Photography Contest. The prize for the best photo image will be awarded by the judges and announced in the club newsletter. You can click on the images to magnify them for better viewing. This will run from January 1st, 2025 to March 31st, 2025.
by FreePNG.com
The 5th Annual Millie Hurt Mineral
Photography Contest
The Rules
Club members in good standing can submit up to five photographs of minerals in their personal collection. The photos must be submitted in electronic format and emailed to either Brad Zylman (brad.zylman@mrm-mccann.com) or Dave Lurie (dlurie2001@comcast.net). Photos must be at least 1024 by 768 pixels in order to be posted for consideration. If you're looking for some quick tips on mineral photography, just click here.
The photos must be accompanied by a document (.doc) or text file (.txt) that lists what the specimen is, where it was found and whether it was purchased or self-collected. It can also contain any descriptive information that you wish others to know. This document must have the following wording in it: “I give my permission to post this photo and information on the MMS website, Instagram, and on Facebook in perpetuity.” In return, we will not use your name or publish personal information.
When: Starting January 1, 2025. Ending March 31, 2025.
Where: Material, if sent in a usable format, will be posted within a month on the MMS website (www.michmin.org), under the About Us tab. It will be public-facing with the intention to generate interest and highlight our club.
Why: To promote the interests of mineral collecting, geology and to create excitement for the Michigan Mineralogical Society. We have renamed the contest in honor of Millie Hurt's memory, and her passion to share mineral collecting with the world.
The Prize: The Best three photographs of the Year will receive cash prizes.
We hope all MMS Members take out their Smartphones or Cameras and Submit your Photos Today!!
Previous Year's WInners
red River Gypsum
Moroccan Geode
Chinese Fluorite
Sylvania Calcite
Chihuahua Mimetite
Bi-Color Smithsonite
Moroccan natrolite
Epidote on Quartz
English Fluorite
Click on any Image to magnify it.
2025 january entries
Mineral Variety: Gypsum var. selenite
Locality: Samalayuca Desert, Ahumada Municipality, Chihuahua Mexico
Dimensions:11 x 10 x 8 cm
Weight: 382 grams
Collection Method: Purchased in 2012
DESCRIPTION: Beautiful, aesthetic specimen a Selenite Gypsum “Desert Rose” with large well formed crystals with frosted white edges
Mineral Variety: Calcite
Locality: Red Cliff Cave, Red Cliff Campground, Gallatin County, Montana, USA
Dimensions: 12 x 11 x 6 cm
Weight: 655 grams
Collection Method: Purchased in 2024
DESCRIPTION: Two large golden yellow dog-tooth (scalenohedral) Calcite crystals with many other small crystals on matrix.
Mineral Variety: Fluorite with barite
Locality: Elmwood Mine, Smith County, Tennessee
Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.8 x 3.4 cm
Weight: 147 grams
Collection Method: Purchased in 2024
DESCRIPTION: A beautiful and very aesthetic specimen of creamy white Barite on top of a gorgeous blue/purple cube with great zoning.
Mineral Variety: Cuprosklodowskite
Locality: Musonoi Mine, Democratic Republic of Congo
Dimensions: 2.1 x 3.7 x 0.7cm
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Beautiful needles and sprays of bright green Cuprosklodowskite crystals. It is fairly large for such a rare specimen.
Mineral Variety: corundum var. ruby
Locality: Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan
Dimensions: 3.9 x 3.5 x 1.6 cm
Weight: 21 grams
Collection Method: Purchased online in 2024
DESCRIPTION: A single, small dark pinkish red well-formed Ruby crystal sits atop marble matrix.
Mineral Variety: Malachite
Locality: Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa
Dimensions: 18 x 6 x 4.1 cm
Weight: 436 grams
Collection Method: Purchased in 2024
DESCRIPTION: Dark emerald green Malachite stalactite with a wonderful sparkly green exterior finish.
2025 February entries
Mineral Variety: mimetite on wulfenite with Barite
Locality: San Francisco Mine (Cerro Prieto Mine), Cerro Prieto, Cucurpe, Cucurpe Municipality, Sonora, Mexico
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Hexagonal Mimetite formed around Barite, perched on a blade of Wulfenite.
Mineral Variety: Celestite
Locality: Maybee, Michigan
Collection Method: Self-collected some fifty or more years ago with some students from WSU.
DESCRIPTION: Celestite was recently discovered to display fluorescent phantoms in long-wave UV light. The image is of the fluorescent spectacle of this species.
Mineral Variety: amethyst on Quartz
Locality: Brazil
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Picasso enjoyed playing with different views in the same drawing. In this photo I took a cross section of an amethyst crystal with phantoms and perched it on a quartz crystal cluster. The colors in the crystal cluster transition from white to purple on the crystal tips while the cross-section contains phantoms that transition from purple to white in the phantom tips.
Mineral Variety: Iridescent galena
Locality: Trepča Stari Trg Mine, Mitrovica, Mitrovica District, Kosovo
Dimension: 5.1 x 4.4 x 2.7 cm
Weight: 171 gm
Collection Method: Purchased in 2024
DESCRIPTION: Here is a beautiful large galena crystal from Trepča displaying a cuboctahedral shape. The cube faces are textured with hillock growth patterns (tetrahexahedron truncations) and extremely unusual thin coatings of iridescent oxides, adding metallic purple and cyan hues!
Mineral Variety: wulfnite
Locality: Gove Mine (Sunrise Mine), Santa Cruze, AZ
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Specimen is stunning when backlit!!
Mineral Variety: copper on prehnite
Locality: Adventure Mine, Ontonagon, Michigan
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Native metallic Copper nodules on Prehnite crystals.
Mineral Variety: Carrollite
Locality: Kamoya South II Mine, Kambove, Katanga, DR Congo
Dimension: 3.7 x 3.2 x 3 cm
Weight: 73 gm
Formula: CuCo2S4
Collection Method: Purchased in 2023
DESCRIPTION: Carrollite is collected for its mineralogical rarity, rarity of sizeable crystals, and its unusual chemical composition as one of the relatively few cobalt-bearing minerals. Because of its rarity, carrollite has no technological uses.
Mineral Variety: Selenite
Locality: Adventure Mine, Guangdong, China
Dimensions: 25 x 1 cm
Collection Method: Purchased in 2023
DESCRIPTION: Gypsum is one of the softest minerals and can thus take on many forms under the right growth conditions. The unusual shape of this specimen is known as a “ram’s horn.” As the long crystals slowly precipitated out of saturated waters, the cluster shifted and twisted. The end product is this unique curled specimen. Gypsum is the most common sulfate mineral. Because gypsum dissolves over time in water, gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand. However, the unique conditions of the White Sands National Park in the US state of New Mexico have created a 710 km2 (270 sq mi) expanse of white gypsum sand. In 1933, President Herbert Hoover declared the gypsum dunes a protected national monument.
Mineral Variety: Barite and Pyrite
Locality: From Rutyna's pocket, Lubin Glówny Shaft, Legnica, Lower Silesia, Poland
Dimensions: 11 x 9 x 5 cm
Weight: 457 grams
Collection Method: Purchased in 2023
DESCRIPTION: In the autumn of 2018, a new find of barite with pyrite was unearthed in the Lubin Mine in Lower Silesia. The 30 m long cavity in this copper and silver mine was completely covered with beautiful formations of barite in various different habits. Microcrystals of golden iridescent pyrite were deposited on top of the barite, contrasting nicely with the tan baryte." (Niels Brouwer, a collector)
Mineral Variety: Fluorite, Quartz & Barite
Locality: Xianghuapu mine, Chenzhou, Hunan, China
Dimensions: 16 x 12 x12 cm; the largest fluorite cubes are 3 cm on the edge
Weight: 457 grams
Collection Method: Purchased in 2024
DESCRIPTION: Very nice fluorite cubes covered by quartz druzy "sugar". Yellow barite is likely the yellow area but it is not reported in this area. While the fluorite fluoresces, the yellow crystals do not.
2025 March entries
Mineral Variety: Lyndochite aka Euxenite (Y) on matrix
Locality: Canadian Beryllium Mine, East Quarry, Quadeville, Ont. Lat. 45.331892°, Long. -77.390502°
Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 3 mm
Weight: ~1 gram on Matrix
Collection Method: Self-Collected
DESCRIPTION: Euhedral euxenite crystal on microcline matrix. Sharp, unbroken crystals are rare because of their fragility due to 1 billion years of radiation damage from U and Th (metamict).
Mineral Variety: Quartz with Sphalerite and Chalcopyrite
Locality: Huarón mine, Pasco province, Pasco, Peru. -11.00500, -76.41389
Dimension: 40 x 40 x 30 mm
Weight: 36 gm
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Lustrous quartz crystals with black sphalerite and shiny gold chalcopyrite.
Mineral Variety: chalcopyrite, hematite, goethite jungle in Iceland spar
Locality: Faraday Uranium Mine, Bancroft, Ont. Lat. 45.020809°, Long. -77.925022°
Dimensions: Tetrahedral cleavage wedge 57 mm along bottom, 20 mm thick at apex
Weight: 39 grams
Collection Method: Purchased at the Mine
DESCRIPTION: Transparent Iceland spar crystal viewed through a cleavage plane. The jungle is formed when the opposite crystal face is coated with hematite (red), goethite (black), and chalcopyrite (gold). The calcite double refraction effect is progressively stronger toward the thicker apex.
Mineral Variety: chalcopyrite on siderite
Locality: Kaiwu Mine, Hezhang Co., Bijie, Guizhou, China. 27° North , 104° East (est.)
Dimensions: 40 x 30 x 30 mm
Weight: 150 grams
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Lustrous gold chalcopyrite on satiny golden siderite rhombs.
Mineral Variety: Autunite
Locality: Daybreak Mine, Spokane Co., Washington. Lat. 47.944165°, Long. -117.197690°
Dimension: 21 x 18 x 4 mm
Weight: 2 gm
Collection Method: Inherited/purchased
DESCRIPTION: Highly radioactive Autunite fluorescing under longwave UV due to the uranyl ion UO2+2 in its structure.
Mineral Variety: Halite on Trona
Locality: Owens Lake, Inyo County, California
Dimension: Length 8.5 cm, width 6 cm
Weight: 143 gms
Camera: Canon EOS D Mark III
Collection Method: Purchased at MMS Swap Night
DESCRIPTION: Lighting provided by a Lightdow Photo studio Light Box diffused LED ring lights and additional LED fill-in lights. Halite (Salt) Crystals on Trona.
Mineral Variety: Selenite
Locality: Grand Rapids, MI
Dimension: Approximately 4" x 3"
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: I purchased this beautiful piece at the 2024 MMS show from the MMS table. I am not sure exactly who it came from, but the tag and box gave me the impression that it was older and had been donated, perhaps from someone’s estate. You could see the love and care its original owner had for it, and I am grateful to have it in my personal collection now.
Mineral Variety: Fluorescent Calcite and Fluorite, with Amethyst
Locality: Rives Collection
Dimension: Length 6.5 cm
Weight: 77 gms
Camera: Canon EOS D Mark III
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: UV photograph of the minerals. The Light source was the powerful “Way Too Cool” large UVA, B, and C unit, purchased at the MMS annual auction a few years ago. Picture taken with a mix of UVA and UVC. Black felt is the background.
Mineral Variety: Ammonite
Locality: The Mediterranean
Dimension: Length 11.5 cm
Weight: 482 gms
Camera: Canon EOS D Mark III
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Acquired in 1987 at a Nature’s Treasures store in Bloomfield, Wisconsin. Reportedly from the Mediterranean Sea Lighting provided by a Lightdow Photo studio Light Box diffused LED ring lights and additional LED fill-in lights. The insert in the lower right corner is the full fossil for reference.
Mineral Variety: “Agatized” Coral
Locality: Tampa Bay, Florida, USA
Dimension: Length 13 cm, width 8 cm
Weight: 167 gms
Camera: Canon EOS D Mark III
Collection Method: Purchased from the MMS Swap Night
DESCRIPTION: Acquired at the MMS Exchange night 3/10/2025 at Cranbrook. Lighting provided by a Lightdow Photo studio Light Box diffused LED ring lights and additional LED fill-in lights.
Mineral Variety: zebra marble
Locality: Unknown
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Zebra-Swirled Marble. The zebra marble was purchased at the 2021 Detroit’s Greatest Rock, Gem, and Fossil Show.
Mineral Variety: Fluorite
Locality: Unknown
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Fluorite (CaF2), Hardness 4. The Fluorite was purchased at the 2021 Detroit’s Greatest Rock, Gem, and Fossil Show.
Mineral Variety: Stibnite
Locality: Wuning Mine, Jiangxi Province, China
Dimension: Length 18 cm
Weight: 19.6 gms
Camera: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Collection Method: Purchased at the MMS Show
DESCRIPTION: Complex and brittle bundles of shiny metallic crystals (SB2S3). Primary ore for Antimony. Lighting provided by a Lightdow Photo studio Light Box diffused LED ring lights and additional LED fill-in lights.
Mineral Variety: amethyst
Locality: Unknown
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Amethyst (SiO2), Hardness 7. The amethyst crystal was purchased at the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, MI.
Mineral Variety: peridot
Locality: Unknown
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Peridot Crystals in Basalt. The peridot in the basalt was purchased at the 2022 Detroit’s Greatest Rock, Gem, and Fossil Show.
Mineral Variety: galena
Locality: Unknown
Collection Method: Purchased
DESCRIPTION: Galena (PbS), Hardness 2.5. The galena was purchased at the 2023 Detroit’s Greatest Rock, Gem, and Fossil Show.