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.

Skilled Tradesman

Canon 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4L | Available Light
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I saw this brother on Woodward Ave near Merchant Row a few weeks back. He was walking a really cool dog and had a general personal style that I thought was distinctive.  I told him about the project and he was nice enough to play along.

Erika

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

This is Erika with a "k." I saw her on my way out of Centaur and she was nice enough to let me snap a few frames. She hesitate at first saying that she wasn't photogenic and I told her to pipedown and let me be the judge of that.

Anniversary Girl

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

Growing up poor teaches you a lot. More than anything else, it conditions you to accept the immutable omnipresence of scarcity.

 I've noticed that manner of thinking has cast a long shadow on my psyche. It runs so deep, that I even get buyer's remorse when I spend money in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Lone Tigers Fan

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

I sometimes complain about how difficult it can be to find people to photograph in Detroit. The population of the city peaked in 1950 at 1.8 million people. Currently, the city has fewer than 900,000 residents.

Since the city is more or less at half of its capacity, the streets aren't exactly overflowing with potential candidates for the project.

Debate-Great Maker

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4 | Available Light
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As I've mentioned before, I am a terrible person.

I'm selfish. Fairly impatient. When I get on a escalator behind people and those people just stand there like well-clothed bipedal cows instead of walking with the escalator, I find myself having to repress the urge to punch them in the buttocks.  Like I said. Just an all-around bad person.

Then again, maybe I'm not that bad. Maybe I've just had the good fortune to come into contact with some really good people who make me seem atrocious by comparison.

River Days: Father and Daughter

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

River Days is an annual festival on the Detroit riverfront that takes place Father's Day weekend.  That being the case, I figured it would be appropriate to photograph some fathers and their children.

I approached this young man and his daughter and explained the project to him. Normally when I do so, people are usually nice enough to humor every pause in my spiel with a perfunctory head nod. But I was about three or four pauses into it and my man's head was completely upright.

Stylist | Make-Up Artist

Canon EOS 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4 | Available Light
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So, I went by 1515 Broadway coffeehouse to left Crystal know I posted her photo.

There were a couple of folks in there. One young lady was in the city from L.A. I asked her name.

"Vignette"

"Like a smaller part of a larger story?"

Poetic Barista

Canon 7D | Canon 35mm f/1.4L | Available Light
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Crystal is a barista at the the 1515 Broadway coffeehouse and performance venue.

If customer service is a dying memory in your dejected consumer psyche, Crystal has the kind of inviting, friendly personality that will resuscitate it for you.

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