LIFE Magazine Photos of Detroit

**Eastside** · February-05-10, 11:15 AM

Take a look and let the comments fly!

http://www.life.com/image/ugc1029432/in-gallery/36682/

**BShea** · February-05-10, 11:31 AM

My first thought is: I thought Life magazine was out of business.

Second: Those are some beautiful, sad photos.

Third: This is all Albert Kahn's fault. If he hadn't designed so many buildings ...

Fourth: If you have a post-apocalyptic war, monster or other film to shoot, we've got the locations and incentives for you.

**kryptonite** · February-05-10, 11:37 AM

Bummer. Everything is not perfect here. I'm so glad Life made me aware that our economy is not booming and our factories, hotels, office buildings, homes, car washes and liquor stores are not all filled to capacity and thriving.

Bummer again.

**Cooper** · February-05-10, 11:59 AM

You'd think a magazine called Life could find a single living person or development in Detroit. Apparently not though -- just ruined buildings, classic cars, and famous Detroiters who now live in distant suburbs or other states.

I wouldn't mind so much if they weren't in denial about their own project. The ruins album claims that:

"Marlowe's photographs, then, are not so much about the "ruins" as about the swagger, certainty, and nerve of a city capable of creating such glories in the first place, and the hope that old-school Detroit audacity has not entirely vanished."

If the photos aren't really about the ruins, why are all 63 shots of rubble and decay?

**gnome** · February-05-10, 12:06 PM

63 pages of stuck-together ruin porn.

**jonathanlivingstonseagull** · February-05-10, 12:11 PM

The Belle Isle pictures are disturbing.

What is the abandoned hotel they keep showing? Some of the photos look staged.

**Meddle** · February-05-10, 12:26 PM

Life After People.

**Traxus** · February-05-10, 12:29 PM

Life is no longer a magazine, just a website. They are here on behalf of Time in Indian Village.

I'm a little upset, though not surprised, that they chose the dreariest photos they could find to upload.

I know the photographer personally, and he has some better shots of the city, but they obviously selected their palette with a portrait already in mind. It's also a little grinding that they sent a photographer from New York to cover the ruins of Detroit, but I'm glad a friend got some money and exposure out of it.

From an artist stand point, I find a lot of the images boring, lacking in any merit beyond 'holy shit look at this'. Perhaps this is just a sign of an over developed sense of taste in ruins porn, although most of Life's galleries are pretty dull in terms of a photographic eye [[they're no National Geographic, I'll put it that way).

The guy who took these photos is more treating photography as an extreme sport [[for better or worse). He was recently shipped off to Haiti to cover the Earthquake, which deserves merit just for living amongst that chaos for a week [[although it further confirms Life's hard-on for disaster/ruins porn).

You can see that gallery here: http://www.life.com/image/first/in-g...tness-in-haiti

**lizaanne** · February-05-10, 12:30 PM

That had to be the most depression way to spend a lunch break I can imagine. How horribly sad. I guess some things you just never get back do you. No matter how hard anyone tries, the beauty that the city WAS will never be again. A new beauty perhaps, but never what it once was. To me that is sadness - if only preservation could have won out over greed. Ideas over power. Progress over lies.

**mikeg19** · February-05-10, 12:32 PM

Well thank God they didn't portray Detroit in a bad light! [[It's too bad you can't convey sarcasm over a computer)

**wazootyman** · February-05-10, 12:35 PM

Pictures of the ruins of Detroit? How original. I commend the author for having the guts to explore such a unique concept!

When real journalism or an effort to find a positive story of neighborhood revival or entrepreneurship "sounds like a lot of work", this is what is published. It's exploiting an already-bad situation, and does nothing but drive the city's image deeper into the ground.

**kryptonite** · February-05-10, 12:35 PM

My bad, but it must be the 70's/80's hallucinogens that I used - but I thought that along with the ruins and abandonment that Detroit included some places as the Fisher Bldg, the Guardian Bldg, the DIA, the DFT, the Fox Theater, the MOT, the Redford Theater, the Masonic Temple, Bonstelle/Hilberry, Sweetest Heart of Mary, Trinity Lutheran, St. Joseph, WSU, a gorgeous river, Greektown, some beautiful hotels, some fun casinos, sports arenas, quaint old restaurants and pubs, music venues, etc.

God, now I realize I was hallucinating all of those places. Life Rag has opened my eyes to reality, there is nothing here!

**detroitbob66** · February-05-10, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by jonathanlivingstonseagull

The Belle Isle pictures are disturbing.

What is the abandoned hotel they keep showing? Some of the photos look staged.

That is the old Hotel Fort Wayne aka American Hotel in the Cass Corridor....I was just there recently

Attachment 5131

**Eastside** · February-05-10, 12:41 PM

Is it me or are have all these "ruin" shots taken over the years by various publications and news outlets become quite boring and clichÃ©?

There is noting new [[no pun intended) in them, rubble from different angles, falling down buildings and the like. Hell, this type of stuff can be found across the country in large and small cities.

**jonathanlivingstonseagull** · February-05-10, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by Eastside

Is it me or are have all these "ruin" shots taken over the years by various publications and news outlets become quite boring and clichÃ©?

There is noting new [[no pun intended) in them, rubble from different angles, falling down buildings and the like. Hell, this type of stuff can be found across the country in large and small cities.

I agree. Especially all of the interior shots. You could swap those shots out with an abandoned building in any other city. Boring ...

**iheartthed** · February-05-10, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

Well thank God they didn't portray Detroit in a bad light! [[It's too bad you can't convey sarcasm over a computer)

You can. The SarcMark:

**rjlj** · February-05-10, 12:54 PM

Agreed, tiresome to say the least. A lot of those shots are the same shots done over and over by people who break into these buildings around town every weekend. Not to mention a lot of those shots were staged. Boring.

**Traxus** · February-05-10, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by rjlj

Agreed, tiresome to say the least. A lot of those shots are the same shots done over and over by people who break into these buildings around town every weekend. Not to mention a lot of those shots were staged. Boring.

I tend to agree, a lot of images these days look like someone walked in with a point and shoot with no regard for framing or composition. There is a very broad line between the voyeuristic adventurist and the artist in the ruins...

**Lowell** · February-05-10, 01:56 PM

If this had been the 1940's or 50's that presentation would have been devastating, but as Bshea above put it "My first thought is: I thought Life magazine was out of business" kind of sums of Life's [in]significance.

One has to admire the photographer's trespass skills.

Life is dead, Detroit lives on.

**Mipade** · February-05-10, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by Traxus

Life is no longer a magazine, just a website. They are here on behalf of Time in Indian Village.

That's West Village actually.

And yes, more ruin porn. Just what is needed...

**Wintersmommy** · February-05-10, 03:53 PM

there is a picture of a covered bridge on belle isle...where on the island is this bridge?

lilpup · February-05-10, 04:05 PM

It's on the northeast corner of the island - inside of the ring road - in the Lake Muskoday area opposite the Yacht Club.

You can see it clearly as part of the golf course on the aerial view of the island on maps.bing.com

**Wintersmommy** · February-05-10, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by lilpup

It's on the northeast corner of the island - inside of the ring road - in the Lake Muskoday area.

I will have to check that out..thank you

lilpup · February-05-10, 04:34 PM

**MaxDetroit** · February-05-10, 05:34 PM

The only real point of these dime-a-dozen "WOW, Look How Bad it is in Detroit!!!" hit pieces is to make people feel better about the problems festering in their own backyards, leaving the reader/writer/photographer with a feeling of smug satisfaction. No matter how bad things are *here* we're better than Detroit.