Home » The Big Urban Photography Project

The Big Urban Photography Project

Rustwire is recruiting photographers across the Midwest to take part in a photo project attempting to capture the unique essence of individual Rust Belt cities.

We want shots of Cleveland, when the fog rolls in from the lake and blankets downtown. We want the vacant storefront in the old Polish neighborhood in Buffalo. We want children playing in the streets in St. Louis. We want street construction projects, old warehouses, snowstorms and street festivals.

We need photographers with an interest in urban landscapes and knowledge and love for their cities.  Email us at rustbeltnews@gmail.com to participate.

  • tonyg

    have a series of erie, pa waterfront shots with excellent lighting; willing to share with you guys

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  • colin

    do you have a flickr pool for this? that’d be perfect.

  • http:www.thehydraulics.com Chris Hawley

    Speaking of vacant storefronts in Polish Buffalo….. Check it out, from fixBuffalo.blogspot.com:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/fixbuffalo/sets/72157621942904561/

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrreilly/sets/72157617394982546/ Michael Reilly

    I think i have what you may want.
    Some friends and myself have been cultivating Cleveland’s urban abandomnment for the last 5 years…..
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrreilly/sets/72157617394982546/
    If you like e-mail me and we will talk about usage.

  • http://www.buffbuildings.com David Steele

    Excuse me but your opening solicitation is a bit obnoxious towards Buffalo. Are you seriously inferring that Buffalo’s essence is abandoned storefronts on the east side? I expected much better for Rustwire!

    Also http://www.buffbuildings.com

  • schmange

    Ha! Good point, David. Truth is, I haven’t been to Buffalo since I was a kid. But just driving through I remember I liked it. There were kids playing pickup football on a fall day on this very wide, tree-lined boulevard. Also, I’m dying to come back to see a building by my favorite architect Louis Sullivan.

    Excuse me for bullshitting. I was really referring to a place I know in Cleveland and assuming that Buffalo had a matching situation. Good catch!

  • http://www.buffbuildings.com David Steele

    I am certainly not trying to whitewash Buffalo. Vacant east side stores exist in multitudes there. Just found it odd that you put out a call for romantic images of the other equally sh*thole-like industrial cities while dumping the rustbelt stereotype onto Buffalo. Anyway I can use your bash job to drum up some images for you.

  • schmange

    David, awesome! Send em to rustbeltnews@gmail.com.

  • http://www.buffbuildings.com David Steele

    In the meantime check out my Book on line and available in hardcover and soft cover versions from blurb.com – Wouldn’t mind if you featured it on your site either – hint hint.

    http://www.buffbuildings.com

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  • http://funkship.com Nate Schneekloth

    Here are some from a set of grain elevators in Buffalo. Let me know what you think.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/pharaoh8/sets/72157623781559488/.

  • schmange

    Nate, like those a lot. I will post them with your permission. Be best if you would give me a week or two and a couple paragraphs though. rustbeltnews@gmail.com.

    Thanks so much!

    Angie

  • Kristin

    As a side note, I can’t help but find it funny to hear of all the great opportunities for “young professionals” in Chicago.

    Many of my fellow University of Michigan grads (and of course graduates of MSU, other Michigan schools and some who did grad/professional school in Chicago) seemed determined to start a new “Michigan” settlement in Chicago. Unfortunately, the majority of them are LUCKY to be under employed, the rest lived out their leases and couldn’t find employment. A lucky few have underpaid jobs in their field to support over priced apartments and cost of living. These are 20 somethings with good to great educations, all with internships, most with advanced and professional degrees.

    As for my peers/friends who sought the good life in California? Every. single. one. of them moved back to Michigan, most within a year. For all the sunshine and supposedly superior livability, they couldn’t handle the incredibly high cost.

    I guess it just sucks everywhere?