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Hey....do I have balls or what??

#61
Well, Bad Brains, I guess this is just gonna have to become a habit. Here's my post from the last time you started a juvenile thread trashing Detroit. I don't know where you live, but I actually live IN Detroit. By choice. Moved from the Ann Arbor area to Detroit in '95. I could move to Bloomfield Hills or Rochester Hills if/when I choose. I choose not to. Not because I have "balls" like you claim to, but because I recognize that despite the problems (and the city does have some) it's still a pretty nice place to live.

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN JANUARY 2005 WHEN I WAS TRULY PO'D.......
Okay, before you all get off on some b***s*** feeding frenzy on how Detroit sucks or is too hard core to deal with, here's a little more info for you.....

Like most large urban areas, Detroit has its problems with crime, unemployment, and a seemingly perpetual underclass. Detroit probably has more of those problems than cities like Chicago, New York and Atlanta, BUT Detroit also has a lot of very very good things going for it.

There are nice neighborhoods ALL OVER the city, the downtown area is vibrant and growing (the North American International Auto Show is downtown this week. Think NAMM for cars and scale it up a few notches). The Black Tie Dinner sponsored by the Auto Show last night was again the single largest charity event contributing to childrens' charities in the world. $7 million dollars raised last night. Happens every year. On the collage below you have....

1) A house down the street from me that was on the cover for a home tour
2) My house in Northwest Detroit
3) Hard Rock Cafe in Campus Martius area
4) The downtown skyline viewed from Windsor Canada
5) Ford Field, where NFL teams beat up on my Lions
6) The view of downtown from Comerica Park, where baseball teams beat up on the Tigers
7) A home in an East Side Detroit neighborhood. It sold for $330,000
8) Some of the facades in midtown Cultural Center area
9) Kids on my block playing in a bouncer during one of our block picnics
10) My neighbors just hangin' out on a summer afternoon
11) Campus Martius in downtown, with a Rockefeller Center type skating rink



If I seem a bit cranky, it's cause I am. I get a little tired of people pissing on my city. I could move to Bloomfield Hills if I want. I choose to live in Detroit because I like the atmosphere, the nightlife, the neighborhood, and the neighbors.

Peace,

James
 
#62
Bad Brains you did bring back memories, I shoot my first photo project in college, it was the people of cass corridor. With old Cannon Film gear, I pushed tri-x to 1600 ASA to get a grainy look. The area was actually far worse the (1978). I shot a hair color show at the ren cen last weekend, my first digital shoot, I was packing but I would have been any where If I had to walk thru parking structures at night. As far as lenses I was walking arround with 2 bodys and 5 lenses and a flash, that camera bag is worth more then my Sadowsky bass! I live in Oak Park , one of the inner suburbs. And I would not live in Detroit yet, but crime is not the reason, You can get attacked anywhere and there are good and bad neighborhoods in Detroit. I just think the City Govt. is poor and does a lousy job delivering services and you pay higher taxes for what you get. Actually London England has a higher firearms crime rate, and Detroit is not the murder or poverty capital anymore. And we still have the best basketball team, so take that all of you Tiger and Lion jokers :p
 
#64
Joshua said:
To be fair, my reference info is older. Camden could indeed have surpassed Bridgepit. Not exactly a badge of honor!

I'd have to say that New Haven is (or at least was up thru a few years ago) pretty cool. That was my base of ops throughout most of the 90's. The Daily Cafe alone was worth the trip...
Click to expand...

New Haven is an interesting city. I grew up outside of it and my dad worked in it (at Yale). I've since been back a few times, it was rough for a time in the 90's but it seems to be getting better. Back in the day it had a bunch of great clubs, like the Tunne Inn.

Camden I've never been to, but people have told me it's a real ghost town.
 
#66
Sorry. But anyone who has to purposely start a thread to brag (yes, I said brag) about going into a part of town they don't usually go to, is legitimate grounds for being reacted upon. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately for the original poster), this thread also had the element of "art" which of course, if you comment on the overly (and useless) "machismo" intentions of doing it in the first place, you are a big party-pooper.

Well, sorry that some of us are pooping on the party, but there ain't no party in the first place.

I guess I'll put it this way: If you have to grandize a whole story about going to a bad part of town, and how you "risked your life" :rolleyes: and all that, you are pretty sheltered. And that's not a bad thing. It's just, imagine someone like Paris Hilton going to anyone's regular house or suburban neighborhood and going "OH MY GOD, LIKE, IT WAS TOTALLY SO GROSS IN THERE! THE TV WAS SO SMALL AND THE BED WAS ALL LUMPY, AND I HAD TO SHARE A BATHROOM! GROSS!". Now let's say that's YOUR house. How would you feel?

That's basically what you said when putting that "hero" aspect into your photography story. And for you to be a hero, there has to be a villain or the bad guys. You made a place where people live just that. Like you are so far above that place, IMAGINE THAT, YOU GOING THERE?! COOOOL!!! :eek:

This is the same type of thing when my friends from out of town get a ride from me from LAX airport. We drive through South Central and Compton (sorta) to get to where I live and they tell all their friends, "Oh my God, I actually DROVE through Compton! I was surprised I didn't get shot!".

Then I want to slap them.

Anyway, beyond all that, I applaud your interest in photography and art. But please...don't do it for the sake of or supplementing it by putting down others, which is essentially what you did. And no, I'm not the "serious" type either. I just sometimes don't choose to ignore something because I'm afraid this attitude will be start to become normal. Like, "No way, YOU went to THE GHETTO? COOOOL!"

Please.
 
#69
I mentioned in another thread that I got lost downtown in
Detroit my first trip there, which was a few weeks ago.

Somewhere in the vicinity east of 94 and 75,Trombley Street
and Riopanne, iirc. Off of E.Grand. Scary place that looked like
Mosul or Baghdad. Though there were no people anywhere in
that 'hood. It was totally deserted. A textbook case for
urban renewal. Odd to think that one of the 5 richest
counties in the USA is right next door.

A few blocks away, I could see good stuff happening,
stuff getting fixed up, and things looking up. Different
side of the coin. Same coin.

Of course, this was my first visit there. I have seen a lot
worse in other places. No point mentioning them, most
of us know where they are.

It probably is a good photo subject. It could be a much more
interesting subject if you caught the people, and not just
the place. But that would have taken a bit more rocks
than hopping in and hopping out of the car. People's faces
can often have a lot to say about the lives they lead.
Sometimes the things they say are not so pretty, are they?
Sometimes their last shreds of dignity are swept away by
someone recording their abject misery. Best you stayed
with the buildings then.

Also, you will find a lot of people have pride in the places
that they live, they are all special in their own way. History
and culture play a large part in this. I don't blame malthumb
one bit for being upset, I would be touched off by getting
trashed that way too. My local City, Providence, was
pretty crappy for a long time, but I have always loved it.
Fortunately, a lot more people than just I felt this way, and
the city has really come a long way. But people make the
difference there too. People that care.

I am not feeling a real high testosterone level on this. Sorry.
I figure if you have lived in MI your whole life, you were
overdue to take a look around. Glad you are finally getting
to it. I hope your reward will be greater than merely your
grade.
 
#72
Thor & Transverz,

Thanks for your perspectives, guys. Just to be clear, my irritation is not that somebody would choose to take photos in some of the worst areas in town. Those places exist. They are worthy of commentary.

Where I get twisted is when someone places himself in a position to know and inform others, then misrepresents this as representative of the whole city. It's sorta like sound bite journalism. Unfortunately, w/out a balanced opposing viewpoint, a significant number of people adopt the sound bite as total truth. I guess this time I get to be the balanced opposing viewpoint.

Peace,

James
 
#73
No BadBrains, you don't have any balls. Just a huge Salmon Sandwich :confused: Anyway, at least this thread isn't as irritating as some of the stuff you've posted in the Myspace music forums. For that stuff, my friend, you deserve an award.
 

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