Comments on: Detroit schools urban exploration & reclamation.

Detroit schools urban exploration & reclamation.

item — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:49:39 -0800

Urban exploration has been featured here once or twice before, but Jim Griffioen's site photo-documenting his discoveries in and around Detroit deserves a look. Griffioen was recently interviewed [direct mp3 link] on the American Public Media radio program The Story.

Jim is most interested in schools. He's taken photos of trees growing through books and other things left behind. Recently Jim has gone beyond documenting what he sees and is reclaiming what he finds. He collects abandoned library books and other school supplies and gives them to community centers. Previously - blog post by Griffioen on Detroit's abandoned Belle Isle Zoo

By: krilli

krilli — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 06:01:49 -0800

I haven't taken my hat off to anything for so long that it has become covered with vine and moss. It is coming off for mr. Griffioen.

By: Mblue

Mblue — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 06:47:20 -0800

More set than given re: http://www.jamesgriffioen.net/index.php?/photography/vacant-schools/ There is an artistic planned flair.

By: Go Banana

Go Banana — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:04:23 -0800

The book depository pics and story are something else. Great post--thank you!

By: jeanmari

jeanmari — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:18:45 -0800

I just want to point out that the unPhotoshopped, authentic, assymmetry in these photos is BREATHTAKING!

By: hecho de la basura

hecho de la basura — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:33:58 -0800

We've seen these before. The link is his Flickr, but they are by the same photographer.

By: oddman

oddman — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:37:25 -0800

Have we had enough Detroit posts that we need to christen a "detroitfilter" tag? The pictures are great, even beautiful. The story is sad and touching, but aren't we reaching a point of over saturation here?

By: tommasz

tommasz — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:47:55 -0800

Either I've seen these exact photos before or there have been so many Detroit decay posts that it doesn't matter. Anyway, most of these would be called snapshots (single building, in center of frame) if it wasn't Detroit and he didn't have a web site.

By: item

item — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:50:06 -0800

We've seen these before. Guess so. Have you seen the radio interview on Mefi before, though? It's really quite good & it's nice to have his website handy while listening.

By: seawallrunner

seawallrunner — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:32:57 -0800

thank you for posting these Item. I saw one or two of the photographs of Detroit, but it's good to see his works in one place, and I look forward to listening to the interview.

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:22:09 -0800

Here's a link to a blog update by the photographer with background on what led to the depository's abandonment. (a fire, an insurance company's shortsightedness, etc.)

By: BigSky

BigSky — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:46:32 -0800

When his prose isn't as purple as the mountain's majesty, it's deceptive: The scrappers must have headed off for their miles-long shopping-cart journeys to the nearest after-hours scrapyard (where they will get a fraction of the market value for the metal they've stolen). The scrappers do not get a fraction of the market value (as if there was one true price), they get a fraction of the spot price. There's a reason for that. It takes work to recycle the metal. The metal will almost certainly be sold again to a smelter. Everyone involved has to get paid for their work and all that pay (not to mention the expenses) is included in the spot price. the segregated classes of solidly-middle-class white kids who over time gave way to segregated classes of poor black kids One "segregated group" slowly gives way to another "segregated group". That's a neat trick. Reminds me of the time when a girl claimed that boys have premarital (heterosexual) sex, but girls don't. When I showed these photos to my wife she asked, "Don't you wonder if any of the scrappers live by some sort of code---that some of them wouldn't scrap a school, or take playground equipment out of the ground?" She has never been inside any of these buildings. Anyone who has seen the inside of such a building knows that these are men without honor. They may be breaking the law, but no one is getting hurt by it, and they are performing a valuable service - providing resources to consumers. These men work for a living; calling them "men without honor" is pretty fucking condescending. He likely owns all these properties simply to maintain his monopoly. Mr. Mouron does not have a monopoly. He owns a border crossing, if it was a monopoly there would be no other. I suspect that Mr. Griffioen does actually get this subtle distinction, and chose to call it a monopoly in an attempt to increase the affect. That same melodramatic eye is evident in some of his photography, especially 'The Treeeeee'.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:45:11 -0800

One "segregated group" slowly gives way to another "segregated group". That's a neat trick. Reminds me of the time when a girl claimed that boys have premarital (heterosexual) sex, but girls don't. It works if they guys are all sleeping with MILFs.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:04:44 -0800

Reminds me of the time when a girl claimed that boys have premarital (heterosexual) sex, but girls don't. It's not impossible. If lots of men try it with just a few busy women (including, of course, whores), you might say that men generally do it and women generally don't. Anyway, the photos would be a lot better if they were better documented, linked to better information. Maybe he could wiki things up and let others add what's missing.

By: 256

256 — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:34:43 -0800

i'm no professional photographer like this guy, but it really is amazing what you can find in detroit. i took a little motorcycle trip there a few years ago. Fischer Body Plant.