September 25, 2012
July 11, 2012
Iyende
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There are two weather conditions that make for great street portrait light: 1) overcast days when the sun's harsh light is scattered by clouds and 2) Sunset/sunrise when the sun's light is warm and directional but not too harsh as it is partially diffused by the oblique path it travels through the earth's atmosphere. |
July 9, 2012
Jack
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What I love most about my self-created job with The People of Detroit, is I get to introduce the rest of the world to Detroiters who are like me... but better. Jack VanDyke is a bicyclist. That's the "like me." Jack VanDyke also donates a significant amount of time and resources to nurturing the development of children to which he is genetically unrelated. That's the "but better."
June 22, 2012
Joey the Bike Messenger
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Bicycling requires a specific mentality. It demands you accept sole responsibility for your momentum. Wind and incline contradict you. Every agonizing second of that contradiction, pings your resolve. You either respond with a willful decision to move forward or you let resistance stop you. If you don't let it stop you, the willful decision to move forward becomes second nature. Resistance becomes irrelevant.
This is the independent, self-directed mentality that propels cyclists. Its also the mentality that propels entrepreneurs. Unsurprisingly, it is the mentality that drives a cyclist to be an entrepreneur.
June 8, 2012
Crossing Paths
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The People of Detroit has allowed me to cross paths with folks I would not have met otherwise - given my basal metabolic rate curmudgeonly reclusiveness. Over the past year I've been obliged to attend a few events on behalf of TPOD. At several of these events, I've noticed a young man who was conspicuously tall while at the same time having a general affect that was inconspicuously unassuming. As fortuity would have it, I even accidentally collected evidence of this young man's unique disposition.
At the end of March, I made portraits of people who attended the launch of the Urban Innovation Exchange (UIX is a media initiative led by Issues Media Group with support from The Knight Foundation. The project is dedicated to profiling individuals who head and participate in community activities with a broad social impact. I will periodically contribute content from TPOD to the UIX project). One of the people I photographed was the dualistic mystery man.
June 7, 2012
"Where is this going?..." [1 of 2 in the Redbull House of Art series]
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I started this project way back when because I wanted to share with the rest of the world what I loved about my hometown and its people. That said, I never intended it to be a platform for blind boosterism. If I encounter something that displeases me in my everyday life as a Detroiter – in my everyday life as an sentient being – that displeasure will more likely than not seep into a TPOD post.
That said, the past couple of posts have been admittedly heavy. In "Why Midtown is Better than Royal Oak" an incident at a suburban Starbucks led to a discussion of how social equity is affected for better or worse by the demographics of a place.
In "Dezey and the World of Tomorrow" we discussed how disproportionate religiosity in the black community leads to disproportionately high homophobia in the black community.
Fun times.
...Because I don't want to seem pervy [2 of 2 in the Redbull House of Art series]
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As I wandered the Redbull House of Art grand opening searching for pretty girls to take pictures of, the words of the attractive, remarkably similar looking, slightly older woman mentioned in the first part of this series echoed in my soul: "Where IS this going, Noah?" If I was to theoretically fill The People of Detroit solely with pictures of attractive women sure it would be awesome, but what would that mean the project was? Would I have to re-write the Mission Statement? Change the name to "The Pretty Girls of Detroit"? How pervy would that be? I snapped to consciousness and realized I was standing in the middle of the crowded exhibition hall, Camera in hand. Shivering. Lightly-misted in a clammy, cold-sweat of shame. I had to rectify my errant ways. |
April 22, 2012
Dezey and the World of Tomorrow
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Disparity
This is "Dezey." He's not fond of giving people with cameras and notepads his first and last name. I think I understand why. More on that later.
I had the pleasure of meeting Dezey at the The Ruth Ellis Center in Highland Park(1). The Center sits inside a nondescript concrete box on a nondescript concrete block within throwing distance of a nondescript former factory where Henry Ford built a machine that changed the world.
I had the pleasure of meeting Dezey at the The Ruth Ellis Center in Highland Park(1). The Center sits inside a nondescript concrete box on a nondescript concrete block within throwing distance of a nondescript former factory where Henry Ford built a machine that changed the world.
February 7, 2012
Why Midtown is Better Than Royal Oak: A Tale of Two Starbucks
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But before we get into that, if you're on a Mac, for the love of god, please change your monitor's color space to sRBG. Trust me. Its the right thing to do. If you're not sure how to do it, go here
Part One: A Distinguished Gentleman
Researchers at MIT recently proved that not even time can escape the gravitational pull of a Xbox 360. So, when I need to pull free from the productivity-killing siren song of Grand Theft Auto IV, I bike to a nearby Starbucks in Midtown Detroit.
What I like most about this Starbucks is the way it serves as a nexus for people from all walks of life: med school students; other photographers meeting with perspective clients; city council members; and the occasional disheveled, quaintly aromatic stranded traveler who just needs 37 cents to ride the Night Train home.
December 28, 2011
Mystery Solved
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In the Mysteries and Enigmas post, I introduced you to a young woman I happened across in John K King Used and Rare Books. The place is an amazing repository for books - and for repressed childhood emotional trauma (Confused? Read the original post).
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