Guardian: Detroit in Ruins

Beautiful photos ... very sad to see such enigmatic architecture crumbling like this.

Thanks for the link. 🙂
 
And I meant to add ... now we just wait for someone to turn this into a heated discussion about the US economy and politics so some mod can dump the thread into the Off Topic forum where few people will get to view the images.

I'm such a cynic! 😛
 
Not to one-up you, but Andrew Moore has a bunch of photos of the same stuff, but a bit better in my opinion (for example, he has a similar photo of central station although I don't think it's on his website)

http://www.andrewlmoore.com/view_project.php?project_id=13

They look better in person, simply awesome wall-sized prints. Good stuff. I'm a little sad because in reality, yes Detroit is in disarray, but it's not as bad as these photographers make it out to be. These pictures seem to be what defines Detroit to people who see the images but never go to the city...there's a lot more there, this is just the stuff that sells 🙂
 
keytarjunkie said:
Not to one-up you, but Andrew Moore has a bunch of photos of the same stuff, but a bit better in my opinion (for example, he has a similar photo of central station although I don't think it's on his website)

http://www.andrewlmoore.com/view_project.php?project_id=13

They look better in person, simply awesome wall-sized prints. Good stuff. I'm a little sad because in reality, yes Detroit is in disarray, but it's not as bad as these photographers make it out to be. These pictures seem to be what defines Detroit to people who see the images but never go to the city...there's a lot more there, this is just the stuff that sells 🙂
Click to expand...

Good work!
Thanks
FPJ
 
But amidst all of the ruins one can find beauty. I stumbled across this beautiful lady, walking in front of the old train station, in November.

station2+copy+3.jpg


Jim B.
 
i saw these a while ago and thought they were beautiful images of entropy. i lived in detroit (the city, not the suburbs) for several years. i can tell you that there are many people within the city of detroit that are pretty tired of photographers coming into their city, taking a bunch of photos and then splitting back to where they came from to publish a book or have a gallery show. me, i don't mind it so much, but then again i don't live there anymore.

i think bruce gilden really got it right with his photo essay series about detroit. he focused way more on the impact upon the people there:
http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/detroit-troubled-city

most of the photos you see of detroit today paint a picture of a nearly empty city which is not true at all. there are parts of detroit that are very alive despite the lack of many services. there is actually a very active art scene in detroit today that is attracting artists to move into the city from all over. in a lot of ways detroit today is like 1970s lower manhattain (only more run down) where you can live very cheaply as long as you don't mind the mess.
 
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I recently read that the population of Motown has dropped from 2.5 million to around 800,000 . Is this true ?
 
Dfin said:
I recently read that the population of Motown has dropped from 2.5 million to around 800,000 . Is this true ?
Click to expand...

Close. Detroit's population peaked at about 1.9 million in 1950 (or so) and is currently around 800,000 (some say around 900,000).

But, the metro-Detroit area is immense with a population of around 4.5 million people.

Jim B.
 
I am glad someone brought up the "Detroit crumbling" fatigue. Truthfully I am a bit weary of it myself. Most of the stories I see about Detroit feel incomplete to me.

Are there any members living there? If so would you be so kind as to drop me an email?
 
Well, as a City Planner, I can assure you that there is much more to this than what is included in the article and/or photos. It is troubling for sure.

But, what is the real story, or as Roger mentioned before, what are the back stories involved? It is one thing to post photos like this but it is quite another to do an in-depth investigation and report on it. I would be interested in such a follow-up.

If it were in Atlanta, I would volunteer to do it myself since I am officially no longer considered a part of the work force.
 
I was going to mention Andrew Moore, but someone beat me to it, above. I have a group of friends through APUG, and one of them worked with Andrew Moore on his "Detroit Disassembled" project. The project was on display at the Akron Art Museum last year. The photos were huge, and the detail was amazing. Moore used 4x5 color negative film for the project.

Last month, we met in Detroit for a weekend to try to find similar (and many times the same) photography subjects.
 
If you can find a working link, the BBC documentary 'Requiem For Detroit' is interesting.

I don't have enough familiarity to really say if it was accurate or not but it is definitely worth checking out. It looks at both Detroit today and how it got here.
 
Very nice photos...thanks for posting.

Detroit is an icon of both the good and bad of our political system...Coleman Young..google him and it starts to make more sense
 
The saddest to me is central station. But what can ya do. The world changes and things get left behind in the wake of change.

Thanks for the link!
 
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