{"id":8033,"date":"2012-07-25T02:05:53","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T09:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=8033"},"modified":"2012-08-02T09:52:55","modified_gmt":"2012-08-02T16:52:55","slug":"walkers-with-the-dawn-the-epidemic-of-residential-fires-in-the-metro-detroit-area-by-brian-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/25\/walkers-with-the-dawn-the-epidemic-of-residential-fires-in-the-metro-detroit-area-by-brian-day\/","title":{"rendered":"“Walkers With the Dawn”: The Epidemic of Residential Fires in the Metro Detroit Area by Brian Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Eric’s Note<\/span><\/strong>: I am pleased to share the work of Brian Day<\/a>, a street photographer based in Detroit, Michigan. I have had the great honor of meeting Brian several times – and he is an incredibly down-to-earth and honest guy. Not only that, but he is passionate about storytelling both the beauty and the struggles of the people in Detroit.\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Brian Day<\/strong>: I was born and raised in Detroit, and currently live and work in the\u00c2\u00a0metro area.\u00c2\u00a0I have been shooting in and around Detroit for about 3.5\u00c2\u00a0years, and tend to focus on black and white photography across a\u00c2\u00a0number of genres, including land\/cityscape, conceptual,\u00c2\u00a0photojournalism and candid\/street photography. Like many\u00c2\u00a0photographers, I’m working on a number of unfinished series, one of\u00c2\u00a0which is titled “Walkers With the Dawn”, centered around the epidemic\u00c2\u00a0of residential fires in the Metro Detroit area. Rather than focusing\u00c2\u00a0on the literal fire, the series aims to document the emotion and\u00c2\u00a0resilience of both the firefighters as well as the residents, who\u00c2\u00a0soldier on in spite of challenges. I’ve accumulated an overwhelming\u00c2\u00a0number of potential photographs for this series, and hope to distill\u00c2\u00a0it down to a finite, cohesive set of a few decent ones in the near\u00c2\u00a0future. I believe the majority of my “street photography” somehow\u00c2\u00a0exposes my love and optimism for people, and particularly for my\u00c2\u00a0hometown. It’s a flat out mess around here sometimes, and some of the\u00c2\u00a0photos reflect that more than others, but we are surviving. Street\u00c2\u00a0photography has been my tool to sort of observe and chart the\u00c2\u00a0timeline, and root for the home team.<\/p>\n

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In general, having shot such things as weddings, formal, commercial,\u00c2\u00a0corporate work and so on, I’ve found street photography to be far and\u00c2\u00a0away the most frustrating genre that I’ve gotten involved in. Not\u00c2\u00a0that I’m a glutton for failure, but ironically it’s also the most\u00c2\u00a0enjoyable of the genres I’ve shot. Still, my priority has always been\u00c2\u00a0to focus on improving as a student of photography first and foremost,\u00c2\u00a0rather than worrying about what categories my personal work falls into\u00c2\u00a0today. You know, trying to master the rules of composition and\u00c2\u00a0exposure before “creatively” breaking them and labeling it art, and\u00c2\u00a0all that jazz. To be honest, I haven’t yet figured out if that\u00c2\u00a0philosophy liberates or imprisons my output, lol.<\/p>\n

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Anyway, I admire\u00c2\u00a0most of the usual suspects of street photography lore past and\u00c2\u00a0present, so I won’t rattle off yet another long list. But the\u00c2\u00a0photographer I’ve been most interested in for several months now has\u00c2\u00a0been Alex Webb, because his use of rich color, play of light, and\u00c2\u00a0layering of subject matter is so complex, to the point of just being\u00c2\u00a0mind boggling. I’ve dipped a toe into some of Moriyama’s work as\u00c2\u00a0well, and have been equally humbled at the complexity and fluid\u00c2\u00a0techniques that he’s achieved. Stephen Shore also confuses and\u00c2\u00a0fascinates me.<\/p>\n

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I have no plans to abandon black and white\u00c2\u00a0photography, nor do I aspire to imitate the styles of either of those\u00c2\u00a0guys – and probably couldn’t in a million years if I tried. But it’s\u00c2\u00a0people like them that are making me challenge and rethink any\u00c2\u00a0rigidities in my own approach, not just with street photography, but\u00c2\u00a0creatively with all of my photography. So, I like to say that I’m a\u00c2\u00a0work in progress. As long as I’m shooting this stuff for myself and\u00c2\u00a0not for the acceptance or approval of anyone else, I reserve the right\u00c2\u00a0to flip the script at any time without notice ;).<\/p>\n

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Copyright: Brian Day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Walkers with the dawn<\/h2>\n

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Follow Brian<\/h2>\n