Friday, April 24, 2009

Flint Noire


There's no shortage of "abandoned-building pornography" — as reader VVürstsydæ VVårlørdæ so aptly put it — featuring Flint. Some hate it; some find it strangely beautiful. But as the weekend approaches, let's set aside our aesthetic bickering and just appreciate this amazing shot of the old hometown by Jason De Long.



8 comments:

  1. This is a beautiful shot. It's easy to photograph the ugly even if there is perceived beauty in the ugly. The challenge for the news media and photographers is to show that there is a soul to Flint and not just a group of unemployed criminals as is often the impression given 99.987% of the time.

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  2. VVürstsydæ VVårlørdæ...you don't know how tough it was to get all those oomlats and whatnots into the post.

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  3. Thank you for this random act of beauty.

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  4. Würstside WarlørdApril 24, 2009 at 2:14 PM

    Sorry Gordo. I'll cut down on foreign characters save the ümlaüt. That stays.

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  5. Great shot, I agree--but, I can't help think that it represents the foggy, uncertain future of a city struggling to find itself. Will our beloved city emerge from the gray mist, or simply fade away? I don't know. Nevertheless, I am hoping for the best!

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  6. Wow, there is something dream like about that photograph. It reminds me of a dream where you know where you're at, yet it isn't quite the place that it is supposed to be. You reach out to expect what your mind thinks should be there, yet you can never really grab it...

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  7. That is a really good photograph :)

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  8. reminds me of Glasgow, in more ways than one. They've started the change over from manufacturing ships etc., to computer oriented businesses.maybe the fog is in our perception of the place...it sure isn't smog from the shops.

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.