Detroit in photos: 30-day challenge

Last September, a friend suggested I embark on a 30-Day Photo Challenge. This followed the 30-Day Bikram Yoga Challenge I had just completed the month prior at Detroit Bikram in Troy. The idea was to take a month to focus intensely on a hobby, devote myself to it, and enjoy it.

As with the Bikram Challenge, I had to double up on a few days. Some days, I started work early and ended late, only seeing highways and darkness. Those days brought less inspiration. Some days were filled with adventures; colorful and unique. As with this blog, once you start looking at life’s experiences as potential material to capture via words or images, you notice a lot more, and your perspective begins to change. And sometimes images speak louder than words.

The cover photo was taken at Recycle Here!, a city-wide, fully-funded neighborhood recycling program in Detroit, whose Director of Operations, Matt Naimi, seems to have great taste in art.

This was a photo I took at my friend’s condo in Lafayette Park. The co-op is a creation by architect, Mies van der Rohe, and a great stop on any trip intended to show visitors some of Detroit’s gems. I was sitting on the floor and appreciating the clean lines of the chair and bright art on the wall.

One of the difficult things about a 30-Day Photo Challenge is carrying your camera to inconvenient places at inconvenient times. For instance…on a Friday night, checking out crowded openings, happenings and restaurants…until you catch a glimpse of something like this illuminated dancer on a cinder block wall.

Sometimes, looking through a camera lens helps make performers on a stage appear as if they are right in front of you. Sometimes, looking through a camera lens makes you contemplate whether you’re missing the wonder of the moment. In this case, I simply wanted to stick a paint brush in artist, Saffell Gardner’s paints. I refrained.

And then there are times when you know you’re catching a moment of history. The unbelievably talented, Detroit-born bassist, Marion Hayden performed with her son (on drums) while her husband (Saffell Gardner) painted the abstract work you see (Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings‘ Nightnotes performance) in the background of the photo. When Hayden’s mother stood to clap at the end, I snapped a photo of three generations of Detroit’s finest folks, and I was happy I had my lens.