Skate Music Enthusiast

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4 | Available Light
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Movement is one of the most widely attended electronic music festivals in the world - and it happens right here in Detroit every Memorial Day weekend.

Over that same weekend, Detroit electronic music luminary Moodymann - aka Kenny Dixon Jr - hosts the Soul Skate party at the Northland Skating Rink at the northwest edge of the city's limit on the now fabled 8 Mile Road. Kenny's event is the natural confluence of soulful electronic house music and the skating tradition that runs strong in black American culture.

Editor

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4L | Available Light
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W. Kim Heron is the editor of the Metro Times - a free, weekly news and entertainment publication here in Detroit.

I saw him on the Riverwalk the other day, told him about the project and was pleasantly surprised that he was already familiar with it and in fact counted himself as a reader.

That said, I'd like to take this time to say hello to W. Kim Heron.

But seriously, the Metro Times is a one of the best sources for what's going on in Detroit - especially as it pertains to culture and entertainment events. It is an deeply entrenched part of my weekly routine. Make it a part of yours: www.metrotimes.com/Default.asp?


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Martial Artist

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4L | Avalable Light
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I've heard a variety of responses when I've told people about the project and asked to make their photo. The response from this local martial artist is the best by far.

"You ain't from the FBI, are you?"

I responded as any reasonable man would,

Happy Cream

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4L | Ambient Light
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Al Tolbert is the owner of Happy Cream at 128 Monroe St. in downtown Detroit.  I came across the shop one Sunday when I had a taste for some ice cream and Happy Cream was the only place open in the whole of downtown Detroit. 

That was months ago. I only recently took the opportunity to learn more about the story of Happy Cream's owner Al Tolbert.

Five Dollar Photo

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4L | Available Light
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I started in photography about a year and a half ago. As the quality of my output increased, so did inquiries about my rates.

My rates?

Since I was new to the art of photography and even more unaccustomed to the business of it all, I would scan the internet for photographers in this region, and base my quotes on a percentage of their fee. It seemed like a reasonable enough approach.

Skateboard D

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4L | Natural Light
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This is Delon. He's the webmaster for Freshman Clothing - a local hip-hop/skateboard culture clothing store. He's also a skateboarder. Obviously.

He's not alone.  In fact there is almost always a group of mostly black skateboarders  practicing tricks and crashing their acrylic wheels into the concrete in front of Freshman Clothing. They are representative of a small but enthusiastic sub-culture of black skateboarders in the city of Detroit.

Their race is noteworthy because I am old enough to remember when skateboarding was not something that was accepted in the black community. I don't know why, it seems so silly, but that's how it was.

I'm happy to see the progressive schlepping away of prescribe ideas about who is allowed to do what. In honor of social progress, maybe I'll get myself a board..

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

Mobile Photographer

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4L | Available Light
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This photo was taken during the weekend of the the Motown Hoedown. I was on my way home when I saw this camera-laden young man.

"That's quite the impressive kit. What are you taking pictures of?'

"Nothing, now!"

He went on to explain that he was down on the riverfront charging Motown Hoedown festival goers to take their picture. He had a photo printer in tow tucked away in a picnic cooler. He'd print the photo up, collect his fee and be on his way.

Or so he thought.

Apparently, you can't charge to take pictures on the street, unless you have a vendor's license. The police asked him to leave and offered the consolatory caveat that he was free to charge for photos in the neighborhoods.

"Ain't downtown a neighborhood?"

Calorie Accountant

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4 | Available Light
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At its most populous, Detroit was home to 1,849,568 people. By the 2000 census, the city's population had dwindled to 951,270 - a net loss of 898,298 residents.

As a consequence, there are many unoccupied houses on many unoccupied blocks in a half occupied city.

The exodus from the city is even apparent in what is usually a city's epicenter of activity: downtown. At 6 p.m., downtown's office buildings empty. Workers spill into the capillary surface streets which carry them to the interstate expressway veins which carry them to outlying suburbs, townships, villages where their journey out of city's heart terminates.

At least that's what generally happens.

Drummer Man

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4 | Available Light
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Detroit is the kinda place where if you sit in one place for long enough, sooner or later every person you have every known in this piece will eventually walk past.

That's either a good or a bad thing depending on who you have ever known.  Luckily, I've known alotta interesting, talented, good people.

Quentin Dennard II is one such person.

Chasing the Dream

 

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

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This is a emcee named Troubel. I'm not sure if I'm spelling that right, although I should know on account of I have his CD. Somewhere.

A couple of months before I took this photograph, I stopped by the Starbucks on Woodward and Mack. As I approached the counter to order a small coffee (I always ask for a "small", not a "tall" because I refuse to use Starbuck's cup size cult nomenclature) the young man pictured above called out from the de facto CD market he tended on a tabletop directly across from store's cash register.

"Yo. You support Detroit hip hop?"

Sigh.