The Bankrupt City

Recently, I took a trip to Detroit, Michigan. I also stopped at a few cities along the way, such as Gary, Chicago, Cleveland, and Toledo. Usually, I like to photograph abandoned buildings in the city. I have a Canon T3i and I shoot with a Tamron 10-24mm lens.
Here are a few of my shots from my trip.

1. Abandoned Zoo

Bankrupt, indeed, and for decades.

I like your shots overall; they're a pretty good representation of the area's dereliction
and well composed.

Be aware, however, that local police actually use thermal-imaging devices to find
and apprehend people in the hospital site, with steep fines and jail time among the results.

Thank you for sharing these. I really enjoyed them all. I grew up in Cleveland and know those places can get pretty rough. Please be careful.

I've never been anywhere near there, and I have to admit, despite all the news stories I had no idea.. almost always what I've seen have been old plants/warehouses/tene​ments.

To see such amazing and historic buildings as well, the church , theatre and train station is an eye opener.
An Abandoned Hospital? Wow. And the Zoo.

Great shots, and you've really chosen examples that stretch the imagination much more than the typical collapse of industrialism we see more often. This is total social structure collapse.

I have seen scenes very similar in just about every large city. It can be due to citizens apathy or bankrupt and or corrupt politicians or major employers moving to cheaper cost of living areas where they can make more $$ for $ invested. My home town was home to several huge corporations and they simply folded or moved overseas if it was more profitable with substandard pay scales. Now these towns have to reinvent themselves if they expect to survive. Tourism isn't going to cut it so the ugly underbelly can move in and run a town to ruin. Just my opinion from observation.

I have to give kudos to anyone that would venture within 50 miles of that cesspool.

Great shots!

Reminds me of this Time photo album:

http://www.time.com …y/0,29307,18820​89,00.html

Thanks so much everyone! Of course I had pepper spray, just in case lol. And really, there weren't very many people outside or inside any of the buildings I went it. I feel more uncomfortable walking around my home city, Baltimore. Detroit didn't seem nearly as dangerous as Baltimore.

First off, Ausibear, I'd like to welcome you to POTN. I admire your explorations and the wonderful images that you shared. Also checked out your Flickr page and was very impressed. Please take care.

Great shots, I like your flickr page as well.

I agree, I live in Chicago and I honestly never gave it much thought until I looked at these. Its amazing to see what a bankrupt city really is.

Thank you for the warm welcome (:

Chet wrote in post #16227802
Great pictures, and welcome to POTN. I go to Detroit almost yearly for the Autoshow...

Yeah, I think it's made out to be far worse than it actually is.

yeah these are great photos, risky but great. thanks for sharing

Great images! How do you find locations to shoot? Do you just drive around until you find a building that you can get into?

Welcome to the site, and awesome work! Killer stuff on Flickr; added you!

Great photos. Looks like a city after WW III.