tommyknocher Loc: Detroit, MI

Good afternoon everyone,

This past Saturday I drove around the east side of Detroit (my hometown) and took some urban images which I find interesting. They include the Heidelberg Project, a famous outdoor exhibit of abstract art, graffiti near Eastern Market, a gaggle of geese on Belle Isle and a view of the Spirit of Detroit statue in front of the City-County Building. I intentionally chose scenes which I thought were interesting and avoided the "ruin porn" which are too often associated with Detroit. In my view, the overuse of the ruin porn genre exaggerates the level of blight in Detroit.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

THANK YOU for the respite from ruin porn. I grew up in Flint, Michigan, and it's facing the same downturn in fortunes as Detroit. I regret that because 3 of my 4 years of college education were earned in Flint. I graduated from Oakland University, also in Michigan, but nearer Sterling Heights. I'm one of those wayfarers who ended up in North Carlina. There is a city here named Cary, and we joke that it means "Containtment Area for Relocated Yankees."

Ztwizzler Loc: Florida

I love the graffiti, I find not many people seem to find that interesting but I see so much talent in some of it, thanks for sharing

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

When it's done well, I can look at graffiti all day. Thanks for the images of your home town.

Denisedancer Loc: Sydney Australia

Interesting photos. It is nice to see some different photos of Detroit. I love the spotted house.

tommyknocher Loc: Detroit, MI

Thank you, everyone! I appreciate your interest in my work.

I am, however, looking for a bit of technical critique on the images. Any thoughts to share in this regard?

Thank you.

GeneB Loc: Chattanooga Tennessee

Talk about mixed feelings. Sad to see what has happened to a once great city. But man many of these people have a wonderful talent and I wonder if that is also going to waste.

Denisedancer Loc: Sydney Australia

Hi, Well only because you ask. I am certainly not a photo expert or critic but here are a couple of my thoughts.

The spotted house photo might look better if it's taken looking straight on so you can eliminate some of the uninteresting sky on the left hand side. (or else crop both sides off and just leave the spotted house)

The blue photo of the bay with the ship, the horizon looks as though it needs straightening. I might be wrong here because of the way the shoreline sits to the right hand side? Maybe crop a bit of the front shoreline as it's a bit distracting from the rest of the photo.

The birds in the park, I think if you crop some of the sky off you could move the horizon up off the centre line.

The last photo also looks like it could be straightened a bit.

For some reason I also take many photos off to one side of a subject, as you have in the last one and the spotted house one. I find it's difficult to get this angle to work well for me.

Anyway I enjoyed viewing your interesting photos. Thanks for sharing. :thumbup:

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

There's really nothing that stands out with these photo's for a technical critique....well done shots.

tbell7D Loc: Houston

An excellent series Paul! And a welcome relief from the continual repetition of negative images of Detroit that we so often see on the network "news". Good work. :thumbup:

sailorsmom Loc: Souderton, PA

Love all of them, Paul! Soooo much nicer that what we're seeing on the news!