To Anyone Interested,

So I hope this doesn't strike you as strange, or at least not too much, but I have been strongly considering moving to Detroit. My ex is from there and when I went to visit him once, I fell in love with the city. It was the most bizarre place I had ever been in my life. Everything was so old and crumbling. I grew up in New York City, Brooklyn specifically, and I had never seen so much abandoned stuff in my life, not to mention anything that I could feel the history of. Sure, museums and whatnot, but no structures or life that felt old. Everything is constantly being renovated and updated. Actually, I think I've only been inside a big abandoned structure once or twice. It's pretty mindblowing.

I am an aspiring photographer, went to photo school and all that, and while my work is mostly commercial feeling, I decided that I want to do a photo story there. For some reason, that city speaks to me and I'm at a place in my life where I need to go with my gut. Maybe make it into a book or something - I'm not really sure yet where or how the final images will be displayed - but I do know that I want to go and explore. Through all the research I've been doing as of late, I've found only bad stories about the city falling apart and photos of dilapidated building after building, house after house. There have been a few sparse articles here and there that showcase Detroit in a good light. When I was there, my experiences were always good and pleasant, despite the post-apocolyptic feel. I went back recently at the beginning of the month to assist on a photo shoot with Eminem. Unfortunately, we were incredibly busy and had no time to explore the city, but it was a great time. I'm kind of tired of everyone bad-mouthing it and I kind of want to live there to see if it is just as terrible as everyone makes it sound. I feel like it's pretty bad, but if people actually give enough of a damn, they can make it better. If drug dealers can buy up whole blocks, why can't artists?

Anyway, I guess what I'm looking for from you is insight. If you can give me any information that I may have otherwise not been able to find, it'd be a huge help. I'm really interested in that city, in the people there, the culture, and trying to represent it in a positive light. I'm not there to shoot the abandoned scenery that everyone flocks to photograph. I want to show the people there, the vibrancy that I know exists in little pockets around the city, and the fact that there IS life - not everyone just curled up and died. I found a documentary called "Requiem for Detroit?" that I plan on watching soon; maybe it'll give me some perspective.

Hopefully I'll hear from you. In any case, I wanted to sincerely say thank you for giving me some inspiration through your article. I'm going to start a blog dedicated to Detroit and my experiences there. I'm visiting again from May 21-30th and am deeply excited about spending an extended period of time there. If you can point me in any directions in specific, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Thanks you again and I hope to hear from you soon,
Maegan