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. 

Living in Detroit with Detroit Lives!

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Chief among my many personal failings is an inability to return phone, text, and email messages within a time framed deemed "socially acceptible." Its not necessarily because I don't want to communicate with the people who are trying to communicate with me. Its just that I'm often in private negotiation with my thoughts. My thoughts are are jealous succubi. They demand my exclusive attention for indefinite stretches of time. Even still, I do my best to escape their surly gravity and return an orphaned email every now and again.

I received one such email from the gentleman pictured above, Philip Lauri.  He intimated that he enjoyed what I was doing with The People of Detroit, wanted to feature it on the website for his social branding organization Detroit Lives!, and he suggested we meet to discuss doing something collaboratively.

G.R. N'namdi

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The theme of this post is business. So let's get some business out of the way, shall we. Amazon.com is awesome.  Here's something that's equally awesome: Say you want to buy something on Amazon. Click on the hyperlinks that are just below every The People of Detroit photo.  That will take you to Amazon.com.  Amazon's Amazon Associates program will in turn give TPOD a percentage of anything you order during that visit. There is no additional cost to you. As always, your viewership is greatly appreciated. As is your money.

The G.R. N'namdi Gallery in Detroit's Cultural Center is one of my favorite places to view contemporary art. Light flows into the 16,000 square foot facility through skylights set in a 30-foot high ceiling held aloft by exposed wooden beams. The space is populated by works from artists such as Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence. The collection is sophisticated and abstract but not so obtuse as to defy intelligibility.

Joe and the Discovery Channel

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This is Joe Faris. He is a graduate of the Parsons New School for Design, the former Senior Designer for Schott NYC - the company that created the first leather motorcycle jacket in 1928,  a competitor on the 2009 season of Project Runway , and the current Senior Designer of Motor City Denim.

I had the pleasure of photographing him for The People of Detroit at the production facility for his brand while the Discovery Channel filmed us for an upcoming documentary the channel is doing on Detroit.

Visionary

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I stopped by 1515 Broadway to get some tea when this gentleman walked in. As he entered, he was filmed by a young man inside the shop with a digital video camera.

I figured he must be an interesting person if someone saw fit to record him doing something as mundane as coming into a coffee shop. Based on that deduction, I struck up a conversation with him.

Paul

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Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Detroit Economics Club's Transformation Detroit media event at the behest of the good people at the Detroit Regional News Hub (if you are interested in Detroit-centric news, give these folks a look. A real group of class A folks).

The purpose of Transformation Detroit was to provide local, national, and international media an unvarnished look at Detroit's state of affairs - especially as it relates to people making innovative cultural and business strives here in the city. After the media event at The Detroit Economic Club, I had the pleasure to go on a media tour host by the Regional News Hub.

Ms. I Am Young Detroit

Canon 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4L | Available Light
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This is Margarita Barry. In addition to being a really great web-designer, she is also the woman behind I Am Young Detroit  - a weekly blog that highlights people younger than 40 who are having a positive impact on the city.

Fly Mogul

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4 | Available Light
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This is the fourth and final portrait in the series that began here.

This is Deondre Gordon. He's the C.E.O of Delamar Property Management and a certified Fly Mogul.

I really enjoyed making this portrait and I am very pleased with the result. I feel like this project is forcing me to grow as a photographer, retoucher, and artist in general. I'm adding new things to my toolbox and availing myself of a daily opportunity to apply them

Savvy Chic(k)

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4 | Available Light

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Karen Brown is the owner of Savvy Chic - a antique furniture and vintage clothing boutique in Detroit's Eastern Market district.

I was in one of the farmers' market's newly and beautifully remodeled sheds when I happened to run into her this past Saturday.

Now, Miss Brown's store is phenomenal. She has some utterly singular antique furniture pieces, vintage clothing steeped in history, and evocatively fragrant scented candles from Voluspa

But perhaps one of the most impressive things about the store - and about Miss Brown - lies right beneath your feet. Though the floor is concrete, Miss Brown painted it to appear as if it is weathered wood.

The effect is completely convincing. So much so that I didn't notice it until she pointed it out to me one day.

Savvy Chic is one of those stores that I would not have been naturally inclined to check out. I think I only wandered in their at the bequest of a female friend.

And in fairness, I don't think I am the store's target market.

Karen confided that most men who visit the store mispronounce "chic" ( a thing that embodies sophisticated style) as "chick" (slang for a girl or woman).

Well, one look at her stock of unique items and the masterful faux-wood treatment on the concrete floor, and you may be convinced that the people who say "Savvy Chick" are onto something...

[Contact Karen  at 313-833-8769 or at karen.brown22@yahoo.com]

[View the weekdaily blog and meet more of: The People of Detroit ]

Clothier | Artist

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4 | Available Light

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Phil is one of the owners of a hip hop clothing store called Freshman Clothing at 204 Grand River in the Harmony Park district of Detroit.

Which is the reason why I believe American school children should be obligated to take a Sex and Relationship Education course titled "Everything That Glitters isn't Gold, and Everything that's Wet Isn't Water."

What does that have to do with this photo. Nothing, really. The thought just occurred to me earlier today and I thought it was really, really funny. I wanted to take the nearest opportunity to immortalize it on the internet because I'm a egotistical bastard, the saying is sure to catch on and I want to be properly credited as its progenitor.

Ahem.

Back to my man Phil. I stopped through his store for the first time a couple of days ago.  I'd noticed it before, but had never taken the time to stop through.

Since I was primarily aware of the store as a clothier, I was surprised to walk in and see not t-shirts and jeans, but an impressive collection of art on the walls.

Phil explained that both he and his business partner were artists and they had decided to display some of their work in the store. Phil had just began experimenting with a new style of painting and wanted to give it a public debut.

That said, his new work almost made him pass on being photographed that day. He  wanted to have me come back on another day when he was "clean." His  attire at the time was splattered with paint from his new pieces.

"Phil, I look at those splatters like the wrinkles on a well-aged face: they are irrefutable marks of your development and experience. We should shoot with it on."

That's the movie script version of what I said. The real version had more awkward pauses and fewer words that made sense.

Nonetheless, he was convinced. Thankfully because I think it adds a lot to the portrait. Much in the same way that people like Phill add alot to the city.

See, Phil is the exact kinda person that that led me to start this photo project. Murderers, corrupt mayor(s) and semi-literate, super belligerent city council people grab headlines but they do not define Detroit. Ambitious, multi-talented folks like Phil are the heart of the city.

And much like a literal heart they tend to be obscured from view.

I'm doing my best Ben Carson...

[View the weekdaily blog and meet more of: The People of Detroit ]

Vine Owner

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4 | Available Light

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Since I decided to publish to The People of Detroit daily, I've been especially motivated to get out everyday and make new portraits. Which reminds me.

Never approach a stranger and ask if you can "make their portrait."  Though the term is well understood among photographer auteurs who want to emphasize that they are not merely "taking" a picture - not merely clicking the shutter - but that they are thoughtfully blending different ingredients to "make" a photo, the general public has no ideal what you mean.

Book Merchant

 

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4 | Available Light

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Miss Jones is the proprietor of the Source Booksellers in Detroit's Cass Corri.., er, Midtown neighborhood.*

I used to live up the street from Miss Jones' establishment. I would stop in from time to time. Miss Jones would ask how I was doing and I would reply enthusiastically  that I was "ahh, ya know. Still not dead..."