pictures of detroit

february is not looking so good

2012-01-31T20:21:00.004-05:00

in terms of posting.
maybe i'll surprise myself?

i do have high hopes for shooting in the coming months though. there's definitely not as much out there as there used to be, but there's still a few places. we just have to work a little harder,
that's all.

i woke up at 12:30 AM the other night

2012-01-26T21:14:00.002-05:00

i bought a shirt on amazon
from my phone
in bed

i forgot about it

there was a box on my back porch today
it was my shirt

it fits pretty nice...

so i have that going for me.

here i am again

2012-01-25T19:20:00.001-05:00

sitting in the same chair
7:something PM

fuck.

the grand army of the republic.

whatever.

well i was wrong

2012-01-24T19:43:00.005-05:00

today was not wet, as i predicted yesterday.

it's tuesday
january 24th
7:43 PM
cold
dark
and windy.
it wasn't wet
so at least we have that going for us...

it's monday

2012-01-23T19:33:00.002-05:00

january 23rd
7:33 PM
cold
dark
wet
and the same thing is waiting for us tomorrow...

in an attempt to not be completely forgotten
i'm making a post.
albeit, only a handful of loyal readers
and a few 9th place assholes will ever actually read this, but i'm doing it anyway.
so here's a photo that i edited awhile back but never posted,
yup...

whatever.

oops i did it again

2012-01-17T21:35:00.001-05:00

two posts in one week.
back to back bitches!

it's january in detroit

2012-01-16T19:37:00.004-05:00

cold
dark
and shitty
yeah.
anyway,
here's a new post for my many readers to enjoy.
the lobby of the michigan bell building.
we were really surprised to see how drab the interior was.
we were also surprised to see the lights on.
so,
enjoy my new post
because i don't see too many more coming down the pipeline.
i'm bored
depressed
and tired.
i'm also irrelevant.
because i'm not on facebook.

fuck you, and your facebook page!

a narrow hallway

2012-01-12T21:26:00.002-05:00

in an abandoned hospital
yup...

once again

2012-01-09T21:27:00.007-05:00

i am completely bored
with all of this
the internet
this blog
the posting...

my vanity is what keeps me here
posting
my love for photography is what keeps me here
my love for the word
the sentence
it all keeps me here
keeps me driving
shooting
editing
working
never mind the circumstance
the cost
the price
i keep coming back
going back
because
i'm striving to be the best
striving to be the greatest
my vanity is what keeps me here
a healthy fear of becoming irrelevant is
what keeps me
here
in life
online

so
i guess this is one more day
one more day closer
to the truth
closer
to the end
to a new beginning

the end is the beginning is the end...

i read that this place was being demolished, so...

2012-01-07T18:28:00.007-05:00

the latin quarters
later named the grand quarters
back in it's day, a great place.
as an abandoned building, a real piece of shit.

i'm glad i shot this exterior though.

if detroit keeps knocking shit down

2012-01-04T20:23:00.004-05:00

i can practice how to properly compose a photograph of a building that has been partially demolished.

complete buildings are much easier...

ahhh yes

2012-01-03T21:22:00.002-05:00

another terrible old photo
this one from detroit's lakeside trailer park

2004

here's another old photo from the madison lenox hotel

2012-01-02T19:22:00.006-05:00

a chair with carpeting on the seat
how retro...?

years a go
i knew a guy
we'll call him bill
bill was an odd man
him and i weren't exactly friends
we just happened to know each other for a short time.
anyway
bill got drunk one night
and went to a massage parlor
30 minutes later, he left angrily
because the girl refused to give him a happy ending
the night went on
bill continued to drink...
after the massage parlor closed
bill went back
he broke in
stole their televison
and took a shit on their rug.
now,
we're not talking about the HD flat screens of today that can be lifted with a finger.
no!
we're talking about the big ass floor model zeniths of the 80's...
and
this wasn't just any rug
this was the rug in the main lobby area,
the kind that really finishes off a room!

so...
think about that

because i do...

2012

2012-01-01T17:22:00.003-05:00

it's hard to imagine that i'll have to do this 224 more times, to eclipse 2011... i suppose i will have to concentrate on the quality, instead of the quantity, because i highly doubt that i have 200+ posts in me?...
but, in an attempt to stay positive

i'll try!
i have the content,
it's a question of...?

2011

2011-12-31T17:09:00.000-05:00

it seemed like an uneventful year
almost as if we were just going through the motions?
when i look back now
i can see that: while it wasn't my best year location wise
this was definitely my best year photographically speaking,
mixed in were some pretty cool buildings, a couple of road trips, some great stories,
and... i was able to re-shoot a couple of key locations, that had been haunting me.
so...

boom?!

i believe this is from 2006

2011-12-30T22:46:00.002-05:00

from the david whitney building
looking south
towards jefferson
there's some recent david whitney photographs on flickr... the word "urbex" is used in the tags, comments, or descriptions... it's not urban exploring if the model D people open the front door for you while they're cleaning up, is it?

you can see campus martius park under construction
in the distance.
i've said it before... i wish i were a better photographer back then.

anyway
why am i posting all of these old shitty photographs?
well, because i can
and because i want to.
also because i think they're kind of cool.

and... the longer i shoot and the longer i'm out there doing it
the less i want to participate or be a part of any online photography, anything.
so i'm posting old stuff, and keeping anything new off the grid...

if i wasn't several years in to this stupid blog,
i'd pull the plug on this thing and be done with it...

anyone who remembers the motown building

2011-12-30T15:57:00.002-05:00

also known as the donovan building
will recall the blue plexiglass covering the windows...
i had a chance to shoot inside of this location a few times
but i never really walked away with anything good.
i do have a large format negative from the roof looking south towards the river,
but it's too large for my scanner...

check out the wood paneling on that minivan, in the hyperlink!

i was looking for a few particular old negatives

2011-12-29T20:19:00.000-05:00

but i didn't find them.
instead
i found another shot looking north
from the broderick tower.
you can't really see it, but
the state theater was still the state theater
instead of the fillmore...

this shot is from 2005
i left the dust spots because
it helps with the 'old film look'
and because i like them

as you can tell, i
opted for a grainy film...

whatevs.

you gotta get up to 'get down'

2011-12-27T23:16:00.001-05:00

anyone who knows me, knows
that i've had enough shit happen to me while shooting in detroit
to call it a day...
from vehicle break ins
to injuries
to jail time,
a smarter man with less talent might point his camera in another direction...
but not me
i'm passionate
and foolish
and inspired.

i have no interest in public parks
or shooting a 365
i could give a shit about flowers
the suburbs
or anything else for that matter

all i care about is this: (see below)
so...yeah.

i was in love with this photograph for quite some time

2011-12-21T21:17:00.000-05:00

and then i forgot about it.
shot inside of the salvation army harbor light center, 2007.
an old suit, wire hangers, and a wash rag left behind by james townsend: the name on the tag...

this building is so heavily vandalized and scrapped that photographs like this are no longer possible.
i'm ok with naming the location though because this fucker is
cinder blocked up, to the 3rd floor.
we did manage to get inside, not long a go
but,
well,
you know?...

i never much cared for the mark twain library

2011-12-21T00:01:00.000-05:00

as an abandoned location, that is.
some friends were in town over the summer and this was on their list of places to hit.
while they were inside shooting, i was in the ride, with the AC on...
this shot is from 2009, an earlier trip...

and now it's demolished.

this is the kind of photograph

2011-12-20T16:06:00.000-05:00

that back in the day, would make me want to fly out the door with my camera. (so i could try to capture detroit's past) (not because i think my photo is "all that"). you get the idea?
hopefully this will inspire someone else the same way.

the only bad part is;
this room doesn't quite look like this anymore.
so...

the adams theater

2011-12-19T19:21:00.001-05:00

2009
upstairs
the film processing area
the adams was considered an alley jumper theater, because it connected to, and you could enter from, the fine arts building via a walkway over the alley. i never really cared for the term "alley jumper".
sounds too much like tree jumper, to me anyway...

i really liked the adams theater and the fine arts building.
it was a pretty cool explore,
dangerous but cool...

although i was with two friends

2011-12-18T19:41:00.000-05:00

i can only speak for myself when i say that, i traveled to this location specifically to photograph a certain wheelchair... well, that wheelchair was kind of lame, and so is my shot, but this particular wheelchair is by far the strangest one that i have seen. probably only 16 inches wide, covered with some kind of retro vinyl hybrid linoleum, some wood, some metal... definitely meant for a small child with no mobility whatsoever? anyway, as soon as we left this building and headed towards the next one, we were chased out by a guy in a silver van... whatever!

zzzzzzzzz

2011-12-17T12:59:00.002-05:00

this wasn't easy...

2011-12-14T19:23:00.000-05:00

if detroit keeps closing high schools,
i might get pretty good at these auditorium shots?...

2009

2011-12-12T21:33:00.000-05:00

adams theater
fine arts building
demolition

from the piquette studebaker palnt

2011-12-11T19:48:00.001-05:00

detroit
2004
this shot is actually from before the fire.
the roof was in bad shape so we were barely able to navigate past the first floor. although this place was pretty much falling down, it was free from the usual vandalism and graffiti, and there was still some stuff left inside, which made it an early favorite of mine...

another image

2011-12-11T18:02:00.001-05:00

from the statler hotel
detroit
2004
demolished soon after...

i have a large box which contains old rolls of film, prints, random negatives, etc...

2011-12-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

i found this photograph
from 2003
an old theater that i completely forgot about
i wish my box contained more surprises like this one,
but it doesn't...
never mind those lens flares! this is 8 years old and it's film!...

fort shelby hotel

2011-12-08T19:36:00.001-05:00

employee agreement
since all of my photos from this location are terrible...

book cadillac hotel valet service

2011-12-07T21:51:00.001-05:00

front and back

2011-12-06T19:11:00.000-05:00

to be able to go back in time...

detroit

2011-12-05T21:13:00.004-05:00

an abandoned church
most likely the grandest, of detroit's abandoned churches?
perhaps tomorrow, i'll post a pic that is a bit more zoomed in...?

this shot is from 2009, about a year and a half after this location opened up. you can clearly see the evidence of more time, more scrapping, and more water damage...

another image

2011-12-04T19:51:00.003-05:00

from detroit's statler hotel
had i know then, what i know now... perhaps i would have moved the chair towards the left, and panned the camera to the right?... there's something to be said for hindsight... by the time i explored the statler, it was a cleaned out, gutted, scrapped, mess. it was virtually empty, except for this chair, and some bathtubs... the statler was a grand space, but a disappointment, in terms of an abandoned building.
having said that, i wish that i was a better photographer back then, i have a lot of images that are just too bad
to ever share...

the statler hotel

2011-12-04T09:31:00.001-05:00

an empty hallway
2004

roof shot

2011-12-04T00:01:00.003-05:00

the fort shelby hotel
2004

inside the madison lenox

2011-12-03T21:31:00.001-05:00

i have a shot somewhere of a window and a chair. it's actually pretty good, considering it's 8 years old... but i can't seem to locate it, so... this is what you get; a hallway with nothing in it.

this makes 200

2011-12-02T20:43:00.006-05:00

i found this old photo that i shot in 2003, on film no less...
from the roof of the madison lenox hotel. this was one of the first buildings that i explored... you can see the 'then' abandoned broderick tower in the background. the broderick would soon become a location that i was to visit many times, over the course of the next 8 years... the good old days.
why am i posting a crappy picture from the "good old days"?
because i want to.
and because it's cool.
i have said many times, that i need to scan some old negatives and post them online, but i'm lazy... talented, but lazy.

don't you like all that purple and magenta in the shadows, and the blue cast? hmmmm...

this makes 199

2011-11-30T21:29:00.003-05:00

well...

2011-11-28T21:15:00.006-05:00

this particular version, looking north on woodward from the broderick tower, is probably my favorite. while the view from this window, and the many others, will still be possible for years to come... the added bonus of the old window frame, the peeling paint, and the crooked blinds, is a thing of the past...
i suppose the new tenant could always let their place go to shit? or someone could add the finishing touches in photoshop? but that would just be foolish! now wouldn't it? there's also a window shot looking south, that has been a "classic" for quite some time, i have that one somewhere, but i've never really cared for it, i prefer this view, looking north, from a few floors up... but that's just me, and i'm classy like that.
anyway...

i have always loved this composition

2011-11-28T00:01:00.001-05:00

i'm speaking of the shot looking north on woodward, from the no longer abandoned broderick tower. pretty much every time i was inside the broderick, i took this photograph, and pretty much every time, i fucked it up...

it's gonna be tough to reach 200 posts for 2011...,

2011-11-27T11:45:00.000-05:00

this is the last of

2011-11-25T10:52:00.001-05:00

the older images that i was working on...
i found some more older stuff when i was backing up to a new hard drive, so...

TB hospital

2011-11-23T20:46:00.002-05:00

this is from a trip we took last year. i never got around to this image because it needed some serious work... as you can see, i got around to it.

this is another image that needed some fixing

2011-11-22T19:01:00.003-05:00

this was a great day, and an exciting place!
if you're looking for more of a story, then... i guess i'm sorry.

i am blogging

2011-11-21T13:22:00.003-05:00

i am also copying files over to another storage drive... listening to music while the data transfers.
during my last few days off from posting, i worked on a few old files that i've never really been happy with. today i've decided to upload this one:

still, not 100% satisfied with the lighting, or the composition...
this was as good as we could do, with the knowledge that we had, inside of roughly a 10,000 sq ft room, in a pitch black flooded basement, in detroit...

whatevs.

this shot is no longer possible, so it's gonna have to work, for all of us...

i'm done taking a break

2011-11-20T18:07:00.002-05:00

i've decided to return to being awesome. plus... i want to hit 200 posts for 2011.

this is what it looks like up close.

2011-11-08T22:49:00.006-05:00

i have one more post that is scheduled for the end of the year
aside from that
i'm taking a break...

i wonder if these lobby shots are a thing of the past?...

2011-11-07T20:24:00.002-05:00

patient records

2011-11-03T20:40:00.000-04:00

i decided to rework this image

2011-11-02T23:14:00.004-04:00

there were a couple of things about the original that i wanted to fix. this wheelchair was one of only a few that we saw, on our entire trip... and since i originally really liked this composition, and lighting... i decided to revisit the edit.

this seemed like the kind of place where

2011-11-01T22:37:00.007-04:00

some poor dumb bastard with a camera
ends up getting jacked
and stabbed by a crack head
with a screw driver
in the neck (mind you)
and then... the aforementioned dumb bastard
slowly bleeds out
while the other crack heads
and the heroin addicts come along
and take his clothes
his shoes,
maybe kick him in the teeth a few times just for being stupid?
and then he dies
alone
with shit all over himself...

so,
we didn't stay very long
just in case.

my website update is complete...

2011-10-31T20:44:00.002-04:00

except for maybe a minor tweak here or there...
most of my readers probably don't know that i went to school for graphic design. while i don't consider myself a graphic designer, in any way, shape, or form, my schooling has helped me with designing and maintaining my site... but i would be remiss if i didn't thank my wife for helping me with some of the more complicated behind the scenes nonsense of flash, and what button to push on the hoovenflapper valve, and blah, blah, blah...!
i also have to thank all of my friends, so thank you john! and thank you john! for going out and shooting with me, sometimes all we get is a big batch of fuck-all! other times we make fat fuckin' sacks of cash!
there's been plenty of times when all we've walked away with was an exterior, or one more shitty building checked off the list... many times we've been shut out, a couple of times arrested, vehicles broken in to, equipment damaged, or stolen... this has cost us money, heartache, stress, a few sleepless nights, hours spent on the internet- researching... there's also been plenty of good times! killer locations! once in a lifetime photographs!
but i have to thank more than just my wife and john.
i have to thank
aaron
brent
tim
tim
ryan
mike
ray
brendan
sebastian
chad
steve...
matt
mark
thank you to the ones that i never met! we either exchanged emails, text, etc. or john communicated with some of you, and ultimately i benefited from that, so thank you!
there's plenty more too...
if your name isn't on this list, it's either because you didn't help me and or you're a douchebag... or i just didn't type your name, but either way, you probably know which category you fall under?...so
thank you all!

why am i saying all of this?
am i quitting this blog?
no.
but i do need to think about things...
i've been contemplating all of this,
all year...

here's what i have established:
if you really want to know what i have come up with, send me an email, via the link on the upper right portion of this blog, and ask me... but don't ask if you don't really want to know.... be patient though. i'm sure to have tons of responses to get to...

aside from that, i have more contemplating to do.

wait for it

2011-10-30T20:45:00.001-04:00

wait for it
wait for it...
boom!

i haven't been able to fully explore this place

2011-10-19T17:24:00.007-04:00

someone or something has either kept me out or kept me away... having said that, i would love to go back here again one day. even though most of this hospital is burned or collapsed, it's unbelievable inside...wide hallways, rounded corners, tin ceilings, stained glass... it's... well, an abandoned kirkbride son!

anyway,
i have a literature project (yeah, that's right) that i need to work on, and... i want to update my website again, so most of what i post here, for a bit, is going to be...well, it will be whatever it will be! it takes a little effort to update my site, it's not perfect, but it's mine and i'm proud of it. since i don't use a service to build my site for me, i have to do the work, get my hands dirty... but i enjoy it.

whatevs!

i love abandoned hospitals

2011-10-18T18:05:00.008-04:00

however
this place was piece of shit!
the dental office was cool, but it was no broderick tower...
i could have shot this photo,
packed up,
smacked a motherfucker,
and then left,
instead
we stayed for several more hours...good people though!

this was difficult to say the least...

2011-10-17T19:41:00.002-04:00

probably my last image from this power station? on to some other folders...

last one from the conveyors, i think...

2011-10-15T19:12:00.002-04:00

back to the power plant...

2011-10-13T21:05:00.006-04:00

it was extremely difficult to walk away from this particular conveyor with a composition that ultimately was, "ok"... i'm not a huge fan of industrial photography. i usually think more- of the spaces themselves, than i do of the photographs. to each his own... i'm sure many people feel that all hospitals look the same, and are boring. where as hospitals are my absolute favorite. why do i not care for industrial photography? lots of reasons, but the reasons that matter are personal taste, do's and don'ts that i try to live by, (photographically). you're
not allowed to break the rules, until you understand the rules...
whatever.

until very recently

2011-10-11T18:39:00.011-04:00

i had never been inside of this building. i knew of a few people who had made it in several years back, but to be quite honest with you, i never really tried. i assumed that this place was a real shithole, and since it was kind of sealed up, i stayed busy with other things...well, john and i made an attempt recently that was unsuccessful due to a woman talking on her fucking cell phone, directly where we needed to enter, for over an hour, wtf?! we tried a couple more times, and we were turned away by one random occurrence or another...well, eventually we made it inside, and although a large portion of the building was in fact a shithole, some of it was pretty cool. this hallway for example, had that asylum blue green colored paint, and the kind of decay that was natural, with virtually no vandalism or scrapping...a bittersweet day really; gaining access to a building that has been on the list for a long time, and... crossing off one of the last decent abandoned buildings left in detroit... this place kind of reminded me of the broderick tower and the wurlitzer all rolled in to one.
anyway...

2011-10-10T21:40:00.005-04:00

this is a great article!
it's rare that someone with a voice calls out the city of detroit on their bullshit quite like this guy does, and for that, i applaud him.
anyway, tiger stadium was a special place for me when i was a boy, and also later in life, when it was abandoned. i wish that i was a better photographer back then...i can't stand to look at 99.9% of my images from the ballpark.

but i guess this one's alright...

my wife is out of town for the weekend

2011-10-08T16:32:00.003-04:00

so last night was a big night for me.
i ate half a pizza
took a shit with the door open
and stayed up till 11

tonight i'm shooting for 12:30...

so, this is the last power station shot that i'm going to post for a bit...

2011-10-05T22:04:00.005-04:00

i'll get back to the few remaining images after i mix it up a little. i don't want to bore you...

i really did like the coal conveyors...this dually is pretty cool!

before we reached this power station

2011-10-04T20:18:00.016-04:00

our trip had taken some sudden turns for the worse...our spirits were not high! i voiced my concerns to john, and we discussed returning home. deciding to press onward, we grabbed a few hours sleep in a parking lot...hours later, we were somewhat startled to find an entire police force standing outside the car, threatening to break the windows...now, you might wake up and comply with the overly zealous white bread cop with the 9MM, but not me. no! fuck that! i rolled over and laid back down, why? because i was tired and because we weren't doing anything wrong, that's why! i'm a grow'd ass man who just needed some sleep so he could keep driving! well, after eventually rolling down the windows and getting out of the car, the cops were disappointed that we didn't have any weapons, drugs, warrants, or needles, and... we weren't nodding out or cuttin' rails on the dash, so they had to let us go...one rule that i've always tried to stick by is: don't get smart with the cops, not even if you're right. don't talk shit, don't act a fool, and if you can do that, you'll probably be ok...anyway, one of the older cops took a liking to john, i kind of sensed a mentor type of conversation going on over there... i was busy trying to convince my cop that i didn't have any weed on me...fuck!
well, after they told us to leave town we decided that the hospital we were going to hit, which was 10 minutes away, might not be a good idea...so we drove towards a hotel. our spirits were now low, again...we woke up in the morning however, convinced that we would not give up. we decided to push on...we were going to be picking up our friend from brooklyn in a couple days, and that would definitely ignite our spirits...! the next few locations were going to be "sure things" so we decided to get some good food and drive on...
we hit an abandoned subway tunnel, scouted, slept at a rest area, and then we found ourselves here...slightly refocused and energized.

i don't quite feel like working on this story any further or trying to make it more enjoyable for you, so this is about as good as it's gonna get...boom! an abandoned power station. a photograph of the coal tower, at dawn. this was definitely one of the better locations on our trip, and i walked away with a few good shots...this is one of them.

as promised...

2011-10-03T19:31:00.001-04:00

back when i shot this, i had hoped that the angled composition would add to the scale of the room...not a huge fan of this type of framing but sometimes it has to be done.

this turbine hall is much more impressive than any photograph can ever portray

2011-10-02T20:13:00.006-04:00

but since there's no upper catwalk to shoot from, like another abandoned power plant, you can't quite get the scale to translate on to the page, oh well. i have an angled version that i'll post tomorrow or the next day...

the 2011 north east hurricane tour

2011-09-30T22:08:00.003-04:00

has been over for the better part of a month.
we are home now, and i am bored. the reality of life, the cost of the trip, the many rejections, and the blows to the ego have all settled in...!
it's friday night and the tigers are in a rain delay, so here it is:
this power station proved to be one of our best sites on the tour and ironically, we weren't even going to hit this one...but things had not quite worked out the way we had hoped...so we found ourselves knee deep in industrial decay! i guess i'll try and edit a few images from this location, and maybe even share some of my thoughts?...

i just read a blog post where the photographer said, "it’s hard not to join the ranks of the cynical and jaded" this was in relation to urban exploring and shooting the same old locations...i'll have to work on that, for sure.

de troit

2011-09-29T18:16:00.001-04:00

it was nice to get back in here again...

i'm always trying to do better than...

2011-09-26T21:13:00.001-04:00

this looks like the kind of room where organs are harvested

2011-09-24T19:42:00.002-04:00

and this seems like the kind of gurney that would be used...

i've made a lot of mistakes in my life

2011-09-22T19:32:00.033-04:00

including the online version of me.
i've been blogging since 2004, roughly 7.5 years now, and i have to admit...i'm really not interesting enough to say something entertaining, semi regularly for over 7 years. alas, here i am...what mistakes am i guilty of you might be asking? well, today's example is: in years past when i posted photos online, i would name the locations/buildings etc...ultimately, you get a lot more traffic from various groups/people when you do, but with that also comes unnecessary attention from the masses. the average joe or the weekend warrior; wanting to get in some abandoned buildings and take photographs too, they google a few things...and boom! you got it all laid out for them. next thing you know, soccer moms and motherfuckers in flip flops are standing next to you in an abandoned building on a saturday afternoon. fuck that!
years a go, i named shit. not a lot, but enough to learn my lesson. there's a few people out there who take a photo, post it online, and call it out...
i assume that they do it for the attention? like i said, people searching for content will find them first and the notoriety that comes with that can be addicting... it's tempting but ultimately, it's not worth it. i recently read an interview with an urban explorer where he stated that "the buildings talk to him"... good for him! i'm not down with that shit!

in 2004, there were only a few people posting pictures of abandoned buildings in detroit online. some of them/us are still out there, mixed in with the new class. some of them name names and locations. those who do probably get a lot more attention then i do. am i jealous? of course i am. but it's not worth it. what am i protecting by not using the names of locations? nothing really. none of it's a huge secret, but i guess i've developed some kind of urban exploring Omertà, and it just seems classy to keep things on the hush...i've made a lot of mistakes in my life, and i certainly can't throw stones at anyone, but i'm probably guilty of that too?

initially i guess i did this because i had to. because it was out there, and hardly anyone was doing it. the local urban exploring genre that you see today was shaped by those who did it first...i realize it's all been done before, but...before the abandoned lee plaza piano (oops) was photographed a million times, it was never photographed! maybe it was me (i was out there doing it), or you, or him, but it was definitely someone? someone shot it first and helped create a classic....that's what was, and still is exciting.

i don't think i made any huge mistakes today, but it's only 7:32, so there's still time...for me and for you.

whatevs! here's a photo from a place that we explored many years a go (and a few days a go)...before it was called ruin porn, and...before it was 'cool'.

i have been wanting to get inside of this building for at least 8 years

2011-09-21T19:22:00.007-04:00

i don't know how long john has wanted to get in here,
but let's assume that it's a really long fucking time!
so yeah!
abandoned detroit bitches!
what's that?
oh.... that's right, for a minute there i forgot that no one's actually reading this. the only thing that people know is; what's in their recent activity on flickr or whatever the same type of thing is called on facebook, but since i'm not in to facebook...maybe it's called "the wall" or something?

fuck yo' wall bitches!

i have absolutely nothing to say

2011-09-20T20:41:00.006-04:00

but i have photos that i want to process and post online, because that's what makes me better.

coming of an epic 2 day fail in maryland

2011-09-18T20:25:00.006-04:00

we decided to fill our stomachs with some proper cheese steaks and head towards this abandoned train tunnel. well, after being down here for close to three hours (shooting other things), our eyes had adjusted enough to see this composition. it took hours of complete darkness, for there to be a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel...think about that one for awhile! anyway, this is the longest exposure that i have ever shot,

and i've shot some long ones!

i have a cousin, we'll call him Michael.

2011-09-15T18:39:00.004-04:00

he lived down the street from me
with his grandmother
i used to walk over to his house a few times a week
but since he was never allowed outside
we would always play indoors (this is another story for another time)
sometimes,
when Michael would have to go to the bathroom
he would call for his grandmother
she would go in after him.
minutes later, they would both emerge
for years this went on
finally, one day
i looked through the cracked bathroom door
and his grandmother was wiping his ass for him
we were probably 13 years old at the time
i didn't say anything
or tell anyone,
i went home...
the next time i saw Michael,
i told him that his grandmother should not be wiping his ass anymore,
he said ok.
i didn't see much of my cousin after that day
several years later
he moved to south carolina;
chasing a girl
that he met over the internet.
that was a long
long time a go...
last year,
his grandmother died
i didn't attend the services
but my mother did
she told me that Michael married that girl,
from south carolina
and she also told me that
my cousin, says
hello...

i knew this guy

2011-09-14T18:13:00.007-04:00

we'll call him Ted
Ted had a heroin habit
which ultimately caused him to steal a car
a car that just so happened to have a
newborn baby in the backseat

Ted was now a kidnapper too
he went to prison for several years...
i saw him
about a year after his release,
he was a shell of his former self

something happened to him in prison
that did more harm
then heroin ever could...

i'm not a huge fan of abandoned theaters

2011-09-13T18:42:00.004-04:00

but when you consider that;
a professional photographer who was hired to shoot an interior like this would probably use two highly skilled assistants to set up lights/equipment, for a minimum of 6 hours, before anyone ever pressed a shutter release, and then several more hours moving lights, stands, cameras, etc...just to spend several more days in post...well, i'm pretty happy with my shot. especially since this place was engulfed in 75% darkness, and i didn't have any help lighting it... not bad for 45 minutes of work! (any more time spent on this would have really bummed everyone else out, even more then they already were...)

i'm pretty proud of myself.

geriatric hospital

2011-09-12T19:00:00.001-04:00

still experimenting with some new processing...

a different version

2011-09-12T01:11:00.003-04:00

for all of my urbex career

2011-09-11T10:58:00.003-04:00

i have wanted to photograph ivy and/or vines, taking over the interior of a building. on our recent trip to the north east, i was really looking forward to the sun porches at this location. there were some recent photographs of exactly what i was looking for circulating on the internet, so this hospital was a big one for me! well, while the nature taking over concept didn't completely live up to my expectations, i'm pretty happy with my photographs and we had some good times; ducking under windows hiding from the people working in the offices on the other side, the police standing right outside with shotguns, watching over the inmates as they cut the grass...ahhh.

i have a straight on version that i may work on later, but... i like the corner angled composition much better.

we escaped unnoticed...

2011-09-10T22:21:00.003-04:00

i didn't find it, and i didn't fuck it

2011-09-09T18:28:00.001-04:00

i have posted a photograph or two of the concourse before

2011-09-08T18:54:00.004-04:00

but i ultimately always delete them, the sloped floor really distracts me when i look at my final edit. maybe this one will survive?...

who would have ever guessed that having abandoned photographs of the train station might one day be coveted?

here's a cropped in version

2011-09-08T01:11:00.000-04:00

we happened to be driving by this decaying masterpeice on our recent east coast trip

2011-09-07T19:28:00.010-04:00

the last time we were here, the lighting was about as bad as you can possibly get, so my exterior shot pretty much sucks! this time however, things were much better (as far as the sun goes...) i'm glad i got a chance to re-shoot this one before it's gone. this great location will either be demolished very soon or it will continue to fall in on itself until nothing is left.
this is definitely an exterior worth shooting!

i've been working on some new photoshop techniques, and this was a great image to experiment with...(i'm really proud of myself, huh?)

the guy at hertz

2011-09-07T01:11:00.003-04:00

who rented us our car was a fuckin' racist

and he was an asshole too...

i remember when this place was difficult to get in to

2011-09-06T21:19:00.005-04:00

most of the stained glass was still in place
there were organ pipes
and other religious artifacts
that were not removed by the archdiocese
now,
this place is wide open
you could drive a truck inside
it's difficult to shoot here however,
because you run the risk of bumping in to the countless stream of people who go here to play dress up...(insert link here)

my biggest fear while shooting this very photo was that i might get caught up in someone's playtime. never mind trying to take quality photographs of a beautifully decaying catholic church, no! let's bring a couple changes of clothes and do a little photo shoot. what the fuck?!

who would have ever saw this coming?
in detroit no less...

it seems like when i express my opinion here, on this blog
it offends a few people. sometimes i get emails, or i see banter back and forth on other sites...
if it doesn't apply, let it fly
or go fuck yourself
i'm ok with either one.

if i could take a photograph of my thoughts

2011-09-06T17:19:00.004-04:00

i would post it here
or
maybe i could type a perfect composition
just like i try to see it through the viewfinder,
if i could photograph the thoughts inside of my head
i would post them on flickr

photos, of my thoughts
posted in your group
my thoughts, uploaded to facebook
500px
i wonder if myspace is still around?
i never got in to the whole friendster thing
i guess i missed out on that one...

i have one thousand pictures to post here

2011-09-05T19:24:00.001-04:00

and i have lost interest
again
pictures of detroit
blah blah
blah
words of detroit
it's all bullshit...

as promised

2011-09-03T22:14:00.004-04:00

today is a new day
and i have new words
words like:
god
love
pain
nigger
hurt
death
rape
ignorance
poverty
denial
pride

yesterday was fuck
today might as well be fuck too

fuck face
mother fucker
fuck all

words of detroit
i have a thousand photographs to edit
and post here
on the internet
let me get my flickr page going again
1000 photographs for facebook
let me make friends
contacts
favorite me
vote for me
love me
pictures of detroit

but first:
words of detroit
fuck
shit
cock
and balls
insert comment here
love
epic
faggot
bitch

words of detroit
words inside my head
words that keep me up at night
regret
mistake
pain
virtue
lament

pictures of words of detroit
pictures of fuck
words of shit
ass
cunt

as promised
and delivered

suck on my balls

whatever...

pictures of detroit

2011-09-02T21:30:00.001-04:00

is now,
words of detroit
today's word is "fuck"
as in:
fuck you!
fuck it!
and fuck them!...

i'm dumping the whole picture thing for now.
tomorrow i'll have more words.

words of detroit,

boom!

i have reached new waters

2011-09-01T21:49:00.002-04:00

and i am alone,
and afraid

like a dumb ass

2011-08-29T17:15:00.007-04:00

i didn't photograph the mileage at the end of our trip, so you're gonna have to take my word for it...
having said that
two thousand six hundred miles
seven states
a bunch of friends
about 20 locations
quite a few rejections
some shitty hotels
every fucked up dunkin' donuts in the north east
an earthquake
a hurricane...
fuck, we even got kicked out of an entire town by 5 cops with hard-ons!
i had a lengthy story that i was working on to accompany this photograph, but it isn't working for me right now...
so, thanks to all of you who helped us out along the way, there's a bunch of you!
i'll get to the good parts when i have all of my thoughts together and my ankles stop itching...

2011-08-19T20:19:00.000-04:00

this was a difficult exterior to get right

2011-08-17T20:48:00.004-04:00

it took me a couple of attempts before i was ultimately happy...while this definitely was not one of my favorite buildings in detroit, it was a nice example of 1950's contemporary design...but now, it is no more...

the rest are here...

another pockmark on the already scarred up face of detroit's landscape -vs- further unveiling the comerica tower to windsor

2011-08-16T21:41:00.004-04:00

well

2011-08-15T21:52:00.005-04:00

it's no cass tech auditorium, but this is all i had to work with...

as i was shooting this, the building was loudly creaking,
from the demolition presumably?
anyway, it wasn't the creaking steel or the parade of cops who kept going in and out of the police station (just on the other side of that excavator) that had me worried. no, it was the onslaught of last minute scrappers running through the auditorium, snatching up every piece of metal they could get their hands on....right up to the last second!
now, i'm not usually bothered too much by scrappers if they happen to be inside a building while i'm shooting, but these guys kind of worried me, plus i was here alone...so this caused me to send a few text messages out there, to all of my friends...just to let someone know where my remains could be found...

as you can read, it all worked out in the end...

whatever.

this projection booth was impossible to shoot

2011-08-14T16:27:00.005-04:00

it was engulfed in 95% darkness. the little bit of light that did find it's way in, cast terrible shadows and uncontrollable light beams...i'm nowhere near happy with this one, but at least i have a photograph of the projectors and it's decent enough to post online.

whatever...

the ford auditorium

2011-08-11T21:39:00.006-04:00

yeah...

i never had the displeasure of hearing the poor acoustics that the ford auditorium was known for...i do seem to recall going there for something when i was in school, but i couldn't tell you much about my visit.
i did manage to shoot this location a few times before they started the demolition, and i have to say that the auditorium seating area was definitely one of the most challenging spaces that i have ever photographed...not just because it was near total darkness inside, but there was also the horribly misaligned rows of tacky seats, and...the curved walls that were supposed to improve the sound quality actually provided some nice, crooked, out of level lines to use- when framing the shot in my viewfinder...i could go on and on but i'm not one for excuses...
the only other decent photograph that i've seen from this place is from my boy,
uhm, jon bohy....
but since his version is marked private...
anyway,
i have a couple more pics from inside, and then maybe two demo shots, after that i'll close the door on this location and move on to the next chapter, whatever that is...