Shooting Detroit

A few weeks back my friend Devin and I finally got together to photography in Detroit. It was the first time in a long time that we were both in Detroit at the same time. He also brought his friend and fellow photographer, Justin along. We met downtown at Great Lakes Coffee and after finishing my latte, we were off. None of us had ever visited the Heidelberg project although we all grew up in the city. There were conflicting views on the location of the outdoor exhibit so we visited both. The first was quite small and was not the Heidelberg we had all heard about. After snapping a few pictures we continued to the next location.

The “second” Heidelberg location was the one we were searching for. Very close to the Eastern Market, it is easily accessible. The outdoor installation is huge and spans several blocks of the neighborhood. The art isn’t really my speed, but it was interesting to see, especially since there were so many tourists there viewing it as well.

After spending 30 minutes or so shooting, our fingertips were frozen and we went back to the car to defrost. Our next stop would be the ruins of the Brewster projects. The Brewster projects were at one point Detroit’s largest projects and was home to such famous Detroiters as Diana Ross Mary Wilson. The buildings are completely abandon, save for a few rats and perhaps a homeless person or two. The contrast of this blight DIRECTLY across for Ford Field and Comerica Park is unreal. You have a massive former neighborhood, stocked with a community center, towers and town homes, whose residents seemed to have departed decades before. It seems to me to be a prime location for new lofts and town homes and the revival of a community center, maybe even a baseball diamond and tennis court. I am not sure what the city plans to do with this space, but there is a lot of potential.