Jeff Ball Photography

Heidelberg Street, a Diamond in the Ruff in Detroit

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:14:08 +0000

The Heidelberg Project is an outdoor art project in Detroit, Michigan. It was created in 1986 by artist Tyree Guyton and his grandfather Sam Mackey (“Grandpa Sam”) as an outdoor art environment in the McDougall-Hunt neighborhood on the city’s east side, just north of the city’s historically African-American Black Bottom area. The Heidelberg Project is, in part, a political protest, as Tyree Guyton’s childhood neighborhood began to deteriorate after the 1967 riots. Following his stint in the Army, Tyree Guyton described coming back to Heidelberg Street. He was astonished to see that the surrounding neighborhood looked as if “a bomb went off”.

At first, the project consisted of his painting a series of houses on Detroit’s Heidelberg Street with bright dots of many colors, and attaching salvaged items to the houses. It was a constantly evolving work that transformed a hard-core inner-city neighborhood where people were afraid to walk, even in daytime, into one in which neighbors took pride and where visitors were many and welcomed. Tyree Guyton worked on The Heidelberg Project every day with the children on the block. He and director Jenenne Whitfield gave lectures and workshops on it around the country. Their main goal was to develop The Heidelberg Project into the city’s first indoor and outdoor museum, complete with an artists’ colony, creative art center, community garden, amphitheater, and more.

The effect of the Heidelberg Project is displayed through the development of Heidelberg Street. At the other end of the street, there are crumbling houses with lawns covered with waist-high weeds, rubble and rubbish, with no people in sight. [Wikipedia}

When I came across Heidelburg St. I knew I would have a connection. I love photographing the details of scenes like this. It’s like a treasure hunt to find imagery using color, composition and contrast. I also love this colorful few blocks in the middle of a very depressed area of Detroit.

The Wolf & The Wolverine

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:56:25 +0000

Jonathan Edward Balfour used to be a cat person.

Growing up, the songwriter spent a lot of time at cat shows, primping and fluffing felines with names like Oro Ojos Cruz Bernal of Katsamust.

These days, Jonathan is making a name for himself at different kinds of shows as the front man for the indie band The Wolf & The Wolverine.

Here, Jonathan strikes a balance between his best-in-show styling and the intense, feral instinct that drives his music.

We captured this image during the photo shoot for his album cover Levity.

Chicago Sunset

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:55:07 +0000

This photo of a lakefront view of downtown Chicago was taken during my rust belt tour earlier this year. Although most of the trip was focused on finding the beauty in the decayed and neglected industries, we would take moments like this one to see the beauty in the modern city as well. This is a high dynamic range (HDR) shot using three bracketed shots combined into one image.

1 1/2 Ton

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 02:47:33 +0000

I love the perspective of this piece. It was taken in an abandoned steel and wire company in Chicago.

Every time I look at this photo, it draws me in, spins me around and spits me out. I love that momentary sensation in my stomach like I’m on a spinning ride at Lakeside.

It’s been so long….

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 02:16:16 +0000

When I was in the rust belt shooting urban decay and the fall of American Industry, I worked on a series of telephones. All the different types of phones stamped a date on the closing of these plants. Each one was unique and told a story. This one was in one of the last buildings we shot in Chicago. The Chicago Steel and Wire company. To see some images that my brother Josh took of the same facility, check out www.ballmultimedia.com

Almost a lost opportunity

admin — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 22:06:48 +0000

This sunset photo was taken just outside of Pittsburgh earlier this year. My brother Josh and I had just finished a weekend of shooting urban exploration photographs in Cleveland and Pittsburgh and were on our way back to Toledo, Oh for Easter. We had waited for the sunset in the city on one of the many bridges in the city until we just couldn’t take the wind anymore. We felt like we had shot some nice sunset shots until we realized that the best was yet to come. Instead of being upset over the lost opportunity, we pulled the car over and took these shots.

Azteca

admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:37:24 +0000

This Aztec inspired garment was created by Denver designer, Armando Guerra. The make-up was done by Denver make-up artist, Becky Laschanzky www.missbeckymakeupartist.com Shooting fashion is always great because I get to collaborate with other talented artists. The final images are always a surprise and I love that!

Easy does it

admin — Sun, 02 May 2010 20:23:10 +0000

Sometimes when my brother Joshua and I were exploring these abandoned buildings, we put our self in some dangerous situations. This complex was easy enough to access but it was filled with deep pits in very dark rooms. One of these pits actually had the skeleton of what appeared to be a dog. We theorized that the dog fell in the pit and couldn’t get out. Joshua even saw scratch marks on the sides of the pit where the dog had tried hard to escape.

This photo was taken at the Chicago Steel and Wire Company building in South Chicago. I love water towers so I wasn’t going to miss the chance to shoot this one up close and personal. I climbed on to the roof to get a better vantage point. I realized the roof was pretty soft so I walked carefully to get my shot. The shot took about 5 minutes to get the different exposures I wanted and once I had the shot, I stood up and started walking back to the edge of the roof. I had momentarily forgotten how soft the roof was and my foot broke right through the roof. As I began to fall, my first instinct was to protect the camera. I turned my body and my shoulder hit the roof. Luckily, my body didn’t break a larger hole in the roof sending me two floors down into who knows what. My heart was racing, my leg scratched up and a deep sense of relief that I didn’t fall to certain injury or death. I carefully eased my leg out of the hole I had created and made my way to the edge of the roof and down the ladder. I found Joshua and we had a good laugh over it. We agreed to stick together from that point on.

To say the least, I think this image will always serve as a reminder to be more careful!

Kaitlyn

admin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:51:20 +0000

This portrait of up and coming model Kaitlyn Amick was taken last week as part of a portfolio shoot for local designer, Armando Guerra. Make-up was done by Becky Laschanzky
www.missbeckymakeupartist.com
who did a great job at creating this soft clean look.

Santa Fe Grain Elevator Complex #1

admin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 03:32:07 +0000

This building is part of the Santa Fe Grain Elevator Complex in Chicago, IL near Interstate 55 and Damen Rd. It was build in 1906 and then rebuild in the 30′s after a grain elevator explosion. There are several buildings including a power plant, a drying building, a rail car repair shop and several large grain silos measuring 40′ wide by 100′ tall. At one time, this complex could process and store 1,700,00 bushels of grain.

The whole complex is now abandoned and is the substrate for graffiti artists, sleeping quarters for a few homeless and the muse of urban explorers and photographers. When I was on the site, I could just sense the productivity that it once had. It is also flanked by a small waterway and frames the downtown skyline of Chicago.

This image is of the only one story structure on the complex that still stands. The eerie feel of this image is exactly what the space felt like. It was very calm with the only sounds being the dull roar of a nearby highway and the creaking of metal hanging from the roof as they blew in the wind. Despite the beauty of the sunset, I couldn’t help but feel disturbed by the piles of debris and wet insulation that littered the space.