Photos of Detroit

<p>I found this site that has a pretty good series of photos of dilapidated pictures of Detroit. I haven't been there but from the looks of these photos and what I read in the news it looks like it is becoming a giant ghost town.</p>

<p>Chad</p>

<p>http://reliques.online.fr/detroit/detroit00.html</p>

<p>Great work, especially Detroit. Thanks!</p>

<p>Detroit is built for a city of 3 million but now has only about 850,000 people. You could shoot a different wrecked building every day for a year and not repeat yourself. These guys (French?) didn't really get out much from what I can see. What they shot was low-hanging fruit, as it were. A couple of weeks ago, guys were playing hockey in an abandoned, flooded warehouse, when they noticed a foot sticking up out of ice at the bottom of an empty elevator shaft. A crack addict had OD'd, fallen down and got frozen over. The police were called a while later. Recently a guy ran an ad on Craigslist asking for people to go exploring abandoned buildings and getting high with him... was looking for photographers interested in joining him. Detroit's last elected mayor left jail on his perjury charge last month to move to Dallas... his ex-chief of staff lover was released last week. The City Council blocked the sale of the aging convention center to a suburban coalition, led by a councilwoman singing "Onward Christian Soldiers." There's lots to shoot here. </p>

<p>I've been fascinated from afar for a while with Detroit. I live a 2 hours drive away, but have never been there to photograph the urban decay. Quite frankly, I'm somewhat afraid of getting myself into an outnumbered situation carrying a mugger's magnet around my neck. I've visited many online sites that widely depict the downfall of Detroit through photography. Just do a Google search. It's very interesting. Sad, but interesting. Even if one were to take a peek of the city via Google Earth and see the vast amount of residential blocks containing one or two houses surrounded by acres of vacant land. One of the most impressive examples of tortured neglect is the massive and once beautiful Michigan Central Train Station.</p>

<p>Interesting Andy..still I like the Detroit photos the best. It's all sort of like the Bloch's only after the decay, gets boring after a bit.</p>

<p>I agree, Barry. It does get boring. I feel as if I've already seen theses photos a thousand times before. I would be more interested in seeing life amongst the ruins and how people adapt.</p>

<p>Detroit's no different than many other former industrial cities, just has more former landmarks that no one has bothered to take down. That is largely a function of Detroit having enjoyed a brief but powerful period of prosperity-- the 1920's and the post-WWII period, when a lot of truly beautiful architecture went up-- and a powerful deflation, after the 1967 riots. The city basically emptied out, first the white flight in the 1970's, and more recently the black middle class. Go to the next town over to the north, Southfield, and it is a diverse, employed, and perfectly fine place to work and live. Oakland County, which abuts Detroit, is one of the wealthiest per capita counties in the country. When almost your entire tax base moves 20 miles away, you have no money to clean up your economically unviable old buildings. </p>

<p>There is nothing to be afraid of shooting in Detroit providing you know where you are. Large parts of downtown are perfectly fine. There is a ton of cutting edge nightlife in Detroit if you like shooting music. The French guys photos don't impress me at all, frankly, because I know where the buildings they shot are-- mostly within a stones throw of normal, functioning offices and condos. All you have to do to shoot these is get permission from the city department of buildings to go inside. Been there, done that. </p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/8754834-md.jpg" alt="" width="679" height="609" /></p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/8609356-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="570" /></p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/7017184-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="779" /></p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/7017173-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="712" /></p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/7683767-md.jpg" alt="" width="679" height="413" /></p>

<p>There are many talented folks who have adequately documented the decay. I have been far more interested in the signs of life, of which there are many-<br>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/justbeamensch/sets/72157625201237008/</p>

<p>I love seeing photos of Detroit. I think it's great that so many photographers are interested in this city and what it has to share. This site is on a book which includes thousands of photos taken by photographer, Julia Taubman http://detroit138squaremiles.com/julia-taubman-captivated-detroit</p>