Any member of the Detroit media will agree that thereβs no shortage of stories worth telling in this city. But which stories get told and who gets to tell them βthose are topics that donβt always reach a consensus.
Self-taught photographer Vuhlandes (his middle name) has been telling his own Detroit story for the past two years through dramatic portraits of blighted buildings, barren front yards, and neighborhood friends brandishing guns for the camera. Granted, Detroitβs blight and abandoned streets have been documented a thousand times times over, but the 21-year-oldβs work paints a more complete picture of how an unforgiving landscape plays a leading role in Detroit street life.
Vuhlandesβ photos tell a story that, to many, seems a world away from the popular downtown/Midtown development narrative of present-day Detroit. But for many Detroiters in the cityβs sprawling neighborhoods, Vuhlandesβ version of the city is a much more accurate representation of home. As he puts it,Μύ βYou can say (Detroitβs) making a comeback, but me and the people I grew up with and hang around with, weβre not seeing any part of that because my neighborhood still looks the same way it does since Iβve been living there.β
Since the age of 10, Vuhlandes has lived primarily in the same five-block radius on Detroitβs west side. And although he developed an interest in photography at an early age, it wasnβt until after graduating high school, when he was sidelined by a skateboarding injury, that he picked up a camera.
βEver since then, Iβve shot every day,β Vuhlandes says.
To date, Vuhlandes has amassed an audience of more than 45,000 followers on Instagram, and while the streets of Detroit have historically been documented by a wide range of talented photographers β Tony Spina, Bill Rauhauser, or more recently Joe Gall and Brian Day β Vuhlandes views the city through a lens that many photographers simply donβt have in their arsenal.
This is Detroit as Vuhlandes sees it, in his photos and in his words.
βThatβs a stray dog that my friend found. It just roamed into his backyard. It was beat up. It didnβt look too well. You might see two or three a day (in my neighborhood).β
βI just want to show people whatβs really going on. What really happens. Downtownβs fine or whatever, but I didnβt go downtown until I was like 15 years old. Itβs not a part of my childhood. I canβt really tell you too much about downtown because Iβm not there.β
βI like portraits a lot. Thatβs numero uno. You canβt recreate a portrait. No matter who took it or how you took it, it canβt be recreated. When you take a portrait, itβs kind of your own, in a sense.β
βEveryone over here has a gun. Everyoneβ¦ A lot of people donβt know that I grew up out here because they donβt care to go deep into it. They just see pictures of guns and theyβre like, βOh s***.β But thatβs how I grew up. Thatβs what I grew up around, and thatβs what Iβm still around.β
βI did the abandoned stuff. Like, I tried to find every abandoned spot and go into it. But now, Iβm over it. I think I have cancer because Iβve been in so many abandoned buildings. Iβm not too much of aΜύfan of it anymore.β
βThese are aΜύcouple of my friends. They were shooting a music video and I was just there taking pictures. One of them is a rapper, and all of them are really from the streets. Itβs in an old, abandoned bar on Seven Mile and Evergreen. Itβs oneΜύof my favorite photos because everyone looks authentic.β
βIf I grew up in Utah, in the mountains, I would take pictures of mountains. If I grew up in New York City, I would take pictures of buildings, skyscrapers. But I donβt. I grew up over here β¦ and look whatβs over here.β
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