Posts tagged young detroit photo society
Bringing Home Lessons from The Bronx, Brooklyn, and Photoville

Nine artists from Inside Southwest Detroit (4 mentors and 5 students) and several community partners traveled to Brooklyn for Photoville and visits with artists and organizations across NYC. The trip was an opportunity to lay an inspirational and educational foundation for young photographers while collectively building opportunities and our network.

Member organizations of the Young Detroit Photo Society—Capturing Belief, Darkroom Detroit, and Inside Southwest Detroit with La Sirena Studio—convened daily to share time and ideas to build on back home.

The cohort arranged one-on-one time with photographers, visits to youth photography initiatives and the communities they serve, interviews, and tours of container exhibitions with artists from around the US and the world.

Michael Kamber at The Bronx Documentary Center and Abigaíl Montes at International Center of Photography at The Point shared particularly inspirational and relevant programming and curriculum, community exhibitions, and spaces that provided insights and opportunities for lasting relationships between Southwest Detroit and the Bronx.

We also visited The Brooklyn Museum and community photo exhibitions in Brooklyn, Manhattan, in the Bronx, several foundations to learn more about their work (Magnum Foundation, ArtPlace America), and with photographers Jamal Shabazz, Rachel Wisniewski, Joseph Rodriguez, and Ruddy Roye.

Young Detroit Photo Society Kicks Off with A Photo Walk

Three youth serving photo programs in Detroit—Capturing Belief, Darkroom Detroit, and Inside Southwest Detroit—came together to develop the Young Detroit Photo Society (YDPS) as a program that introduces the youth of Detroit to photography by way of also introducing them to each other and their own city.

With an emphasis on skill building in photography, youth from various neighborhoods around Detroit meet and serve as each others’ guides as they participate in photo-based scavenger hunts that ultimately produce community-driven narratives about places and their time together. The program supports youth in developing photographic competencies, exploring and learning about different places around the city, and connecting and building relationships with youth from various communities and backgrounds.

Inside Southwest Detroit recently hosted the first edition when more than 20 young photographers from around the city met at their space at Avis and Elsmere. They were greeted by photo mentors, also from various neighborhoods and organizations around the city.

Eight of the participants were from Southwest Detroit and served as guides in groups on photo walks that covered a half square mile. Having gone in different directions, the young photogs reunited at the building to share their photos with mentors and each other then collaboratively selected and captioned photos that would best depict the routes they traveled. Together the body of work forms a photo narrative of the community and their time together.

No part of this effort would be possible without the mission and vision of the organizations and the shared passion and values of the photographers that each contributed to developing and facilitating this first YDPS project. A special thanks to La Sirena Studio and the Documenting Detroit Fellowship for their support and roles as mentors to the young photographers of the YDPS.