Amazing Images of Decaying Detroit

Kram · Joined: 06 Feb 2010 Posts: 1344 Location: Portland, OR

What great locations for a fashion/art shoot these would be!
http://kr.am/bl

Lovely in and of themselves too.

Esox lucius · Expire: 2011-11-18

Sad story about the city, but the chaotic aesthetics of the decay is intriguing. I wouldn't shoot there without a local scout though, some areas are very rough and down right dangerous especially if you are not of African-American ethnicity.

I saw a shoot from Detroit in a fine print not long ago, can't recall which but it was a European magazine. The Packard factory also is a favorite hotspot, not just for superwide HDR Fan Club Smile

on Flickr

nemesis101 · Expire: 2015-01-22

I lived just outside Detroit for year until I moved to Oregon.. it's not as bad as it seems, in fact there is less crime in some areas than in downtown Portland - and the cops do not seem quite so trigger happy either!

Doug

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Some truly amazing panoramas of decay. If these buildings are not torn down, the day will come when somebody will decide to restore them, and Detroit will be very glad they did.

I'm afraid that, here in Houston, which edged out Detroit as the US's 4th largest city a few decades ago, there just isn't much sentiment for the past. Many -- most -- of this city's architecture dating back to that time is gone, and has been gone for many years. Hell, they tear down office buildings in this town that were built back in the 70s to make room for new ones. This guy agrees with me:

http://culturemap.com/newsdetail/11-01-10-watching-my-hometown-disappear-houstons-demolition-fever-spares-none-dennis-quaids-old-ball-field-included/

When I look at the libraries and the schools and churches of Detroit in those photographs, though, the scavenger in me comes to the fore. Those pianos have real value. As do the thousands of books. And all that wood paneling and trim? The bookcases and desks? Chances are that much of that is solid mahogany, walnut, maple, and possibly even rosewood. These woods have high value today even if they are scavenged from old buildings -- sometimes, especially if they are. Other folks look at those pics and see trash and decay. Me, I see untapped resources and money to be made. Cool

SkedAddled · Expire: 2021-08-12

Unfortunately, those pictures are a very real testament to Detroit's current state. Some of the buildings shown are already gone, while the others continue to rot and crumble.

The main problem is that there isn't a single location shown which will ever be restored or even reused, with exception to the Broderick tower. The Detroit police made some noise about setting up shop in the old train station(MCS) many years ago, but that was far too cost-prohibitive even at the time. The rest of these derelict structures simply continue to waste away, largely because of the all-encompassing apathetic attitude of the majority of the city's residents. They'll gladly groan about any problems, but nobody is willing to take any proactive measures to ensure that these historic and beautiful structures are saved & preserved.

Open up Google Earth, zoom in to Detroit, and look around. You'll find hundreds, if not thousands, of historic buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but there's neither the willingness nor money to take any steps towards saving them, so they sit neglected and decaying. We have some really fantastic historical architecture here in Detroit, but with a population decline of over a million people over the last ten years or so, there's just no revenue or interest for keeping them.

It's indeed a very sad state of affairs, but the reality is that Detroit has neither the money nor desire to save the beautiful structures that grace her streets. Our lovely and significant buildings will continue to rot and decay, until they're either gone, or a miraculous infusion of caring and money finds its way into the city. Until then, we're looking forward to a decline similar to Gary, Indiana.

SkedAddled · Expire: 2021-08-12

As the former Packard automobile assembly plant was mentioned above, here's a few pics to illustrate the awful state of that site and Detroit in general:

Across Concord street

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Hey Craig, did you use a special lens for that last photo? Because of the way depth of field is handled, it comes across looking like a toy miniature, and not a "real" scene.

Gotta agree about the sadness and decay up there. I guess it's become pretty obvious that the automotive industry of the 21st century isn't gonna turn things around for the city and its environs. Detroit needs to find a new resource if they're to have any hope. The Internet snapped the entire Los Angeles area out of a serious funk back in the early 90s. Because of the fall of the Soviet Union, hundreds of thousands of highly paid aerospace workers lost their jobs -- and their homes and their cars. Shock waves rippled -- nay, pounded! -- throughout the entire LA economy. Property values plummeted and the early 90s were tough times there. I know, cuz I was there and having to live through them. But by 1995 the WWW began to explode and business people in LA were savvy enough to ride the cutting edge of what later became the dot com bubble. Heh. Bust to boom and back to bust. Then another boom and bust. And now they're struggling back once again.

I think you hit it, though -- the people in Detroit need to dig down deep and rediscover a pride for their city. Without feeling pride and the strong notion that their city has tangible value not just for its citizens but for everybody, nothing much is gonna change -- except the change caused by continued entropy.

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Impressive, Craig. It looks like a war city.

SkedAddled · Expire: 2021-08-12

No special lens, Michael, though I do wish I could spring for a bona fide tilt-shift lens! The effect was done in Photoshop to recreate the effect of a tilt-shift lens or a model miniature.

pickles · Joined: 17 Jul 2010 Posts: 132 Location: melbourne

Awesome shots, but very sad.
Those buildings would have been sensational in their day.
Cheers, Pickles.

uhoh7 · Joined: 24 Nov 2010 Posts: 1300 Location: Idaho, USA

I happened on the guardian article when it first appeared and was beyond impressed.

The ruins themselves are spectacular, but these two french kids really shot some first class images.

Marchand is not your average fashion photographer:

http://www.yvesmarchand.com/

You guys prolly know about Andrew Moores work on the same subject:

http://www.akronartmuseum.org/exhibitions/details.php?unid=1499

excellent video shows the process

http://watch.thirteen.org/video/1536891086/

PaulC · Joined: 23 Dec 2008 Posts: 2318

Strewth! And I thought the US was meant to be the land of opportunity, progress etc. etc. I can't imagine a British city being allowed to get into that state. I suppose this is the aftermath of free-wheeling capitalism - once you've finished with something you just abandon it and have no regard for the environmental impact.

The images on the Guardian site looked a little bit too staged for me ... always with something thrown on the floor just in front of the camera.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Quiet unbelievable it can be happen in world richest country , linked cinema catastrophe makes me rather upset than thinking of shooting there. Similar thing rare or never happen here even if we had many wars. People always try to renew nice old buildings.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

With regard to saving old buildings, I think it's all a matter of perceived value. Here in Houston, for example, back in the 1960s and early 1970s, there is an older part of town called the Montrose Area that had many stately old mansions that were falling into disrepair. The Montrose Area is kind of close in to the downtown area, but beginning in the 1950s there was a rapid population shift from urban to suburban areas. And these old mansions were abandoned in many cases because nobody really wanted them. Many were torn down.

But then, beginning in the late 1970s, I guess it was, people sort of woke up to what they were, and a movement began where people began to buy up these old homes and restore them. Such that nowadays virtually all of the remaining old mansions have been restored, and the neighborhoods are now those of the wealthy professionals who prefer to live close to downtown so as to avoid the commute -- plus they just like the Montrose Area. The result is these old mansions that were selling for a pittance in, say, 1970, are worth millions of dollars today.

It can still happen in Detroit. Most all it will take -- besides money, of course -- is belief and commitment on the part of its residents.

eeyore_nl · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Netherlands

That is incredibly sad Sad

I don't think it is lovely ... I think it is disgusting that a city treats its cultural heritage like this.

uhoh7 · Joined: 24 Nov 2010 Posts: 1300 Location: Idaho, USA

The photography of urban ruins is big and large abandoned structures exist in every country, though the opulent architecture of detroit may be hard to equal.

Here is an interesting site which has lots of urban ruin shots from all over:

http://www.opacity.us/locations/

a bit more arty;
http://www.lostamerica.com/lostframe.html

and another blog about a japanese island

http://gakuranman.com/gunkanjima-ruins-of-a-forbidden-island/

That these treasures have fallen so low in detroit is certainly breathtaking, but the glib "it could not happen in the UK" or elsewhere comments are laughable.

What's happened in Detroit is nothing compared to what the europeans are capable of:

and the "how could the detroit residents allow this to happen" is a sentiment of colossal ignorance. Those left in detroit struggle to preserve their own lives, let alone the buildings. There is not a single supermarket in the city today.

The trajectory began with urban flight, the great riots of the 60s, then the relocation of plants, the first oil crisis---a host of factors.

Giant urban civilizations are unsustainable in the long run. Detroit to me signifies the future of the great consumer societies in the next 150 years.

By 2050, there will be a whole new genre of urban ruin: the flood, as sea levels rise and engulf entire cites, cultural hertiage and all. By 2150 it's unlikely the netherlands will exist at all.

The ruins of detroit are an apt precursor to the great fall. Maybe 500 years from now they will call it...... the american nightmare.

eeyore_nl · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Netherlands

PaulC · Joined: 23 Dec 2008 Posts: 2318

uhoh7 · Joined: 24 Nov 2010 Posts: 1300 Location: Idaho, USA