Intersection, a photo from ミシガン, Midwest

Photographer's Note

The Metropolitan Detroit Area is home to one of the largest Arab and Chaldean population concentrations in the world. It's estimated that the population of the three counties around the heart of Detroit includes 300,000 Arab-Americans. At the center of this population is Dearborn which has the highest density of Arabs outside of the Middle East. Approximately 30,000 of Dearborn's 100,000 people are Arab-American. The population is centered mainly in the east end, with Yemeni populations in the south end. The city offers many Arab-American stores and restaurants, over 100 on the main Arab business strip of Warren. There are also two large mosques in Dearborn, a recently expanded Sunni Mosque in the south end and a Shi'ite Mosque that just opened and is believed to be the largest in the United States.

The first Arab-Americans arrived at the end of the 19th century but by the 1930s there were still a relatively small number, 9000, in the area. The vast majority arrived after WWII, the creation of Israel and the ensuing conflicts. Many more arrived during the devastating Lebanese Civil War and the Iraq-Iran War. The population centers are split on opposite sides of Detroit, with the Arab-Muslims centered around Dearborn on the West Side of Detroit and the Arab-Christians on the East Side of Detroit. They have set themselves up as entrepreneurs owning an estimated 80 per cent of the service stations and managing 80 percent of the grocery stores in the Detroit area. There are also approximately 100 Arab organizations in Metropolitan Detroit, including social clubs, radio and television stations and community groups.

The most well known group, ACCESS, helped found the Arab-American National Museum, the first of its kind in the United States. It is located directly across the street from Dearborn's City Hall and squeezed between a bank and a sports bar. It contains areas for moving exhibits as well as a large collection of artifacts and documents from famous Arab-Americans as well as average people. This ranges from auto racer Bobby Rahal's helmet to a decorated luggage trunk carried over by a Yemeni American decades ago.

Here is a population breakdown:

37%: Syria/Lebanon
35%: Iraq
12%: Palestine and Jordan
9%: Yemen
7%: Other

75 per cent born outside the U.S.

Note: Shutter speed actually 2.5 seconds ISO 50

orme, snuggleaphagus, john_c, papagolf21, nwoehnl, jhm, wilkinsonsg, Tue, alvaraalto, Rinie_Hoff, maphoto, supereira, kajenn, premels, elihesamian, zig has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

snuggleaphagus (4146) 2005-06-05 0:03

WWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!
Paul this is beyond awesome, it's just so cool.
The speed of the lights on the road, the starry lights, the gorgeous sky everything is just perfect. The three lights on the building are beautiful. It looks like a good night to go for a walk.
The sharpness is outstanding as is the composition and the lone human is great.

[2]

orme (7219) 2005-06-05 0:04

The lighting in this composition is just excellent, Paul. I like the fact that you have managed to include so many different light sources. The street light 'stars' are beautiful, but I especially like the dome against the blue of the night sky. Very well captured. Thank you for the interesting and informative note.

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john_c (24666) 2005-06-05 1:29

Hello Paul. A very well rendered night shot. The lighting is well controlled to be most effective and as Snuggle says, the solitary human really enhances. Your note is most informative. Well seen, captured, and executed. Regards.

papagolf21 (152607) 2005-06-05 3:30

Bonjour Paul,
Un grand merci Paul pour vos reportages sur votre ville, gr稍e � vous nous connaissons et apprenons davantage l'histoire du pays. Vous avez un art consomm� pour raconter avec beaucoup de d騁ails les diff駻ents aspects de votre ville.
Quant � la photo, un travail artistique tr鑚 bien r饌lis� o� les lumi鑽es et les 馘ifices se m麝ent avec un grand bonheur.
Superbe r饌lisation.
Amiti駸.
Philippe

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nwoehnl (122) 2005-06-05 6:00

A beautiful nighttime scene from this street corner in the Arab quarter, Paul. I like how with the 2.5 secs you got this truthful rendition of the various light sources, as well as the headlight trails on the street. A lot of interesting details to be found, and I also like the placement of the illuminated rotunda and the single person in opposite corners of the frame. Well done.

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jhm (211736) 2005-06-05 7:19

Hi Paul,
Congratulations for this wonderful night shot, also the sharpness and clarity are of great quality, it's almost a artwork, Lovely.
Greetings,
John.

wilkinsonsg (8662) 2005-06-05 7:37

Very well shot night shot with just the right amount of exposure to show off the lighting - very good note too :)

Tue (92470) 2005-06-05 12:14

Hi Paul,
Very good picture! The colours and light are great. Good composition as well and thnx for the informative note, well done! :-D
Groetjes,
Lars

[2]

alvaraalto (42804) 2005-06-05 17:54

Hi Paul,
The note is great, but the picture is WOW. I like everything of it but the little "moved" man is amazing. He reminds me of Charley Chaplin or Magritte. It gives a human proportion the a almost surrealistic scene. This picture is really a piece of art.
Groet Rob

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Rinie_Hoff (9340) 2005-06-06 2:48

Hi Paul, this is an awsome nightshot!, the details are just great and the lights are beautiful. I like the little bit of motion blur on th man very much, and the painted lines on the street are shining so nice.
The dome of the mosque looks like a bulb itself.
Very good note, Paul, thnaks for the information. In the Netherlands we have not got that big number of Arabs, we have a lot of people from Morocco, and Turkey, but not so many from the Middle East like Yemen and Lebanon.

[2]

gsgeorge (764) 2005-06-06 13:15

Beautiful night exposure here, the tight composition captures a lot and is dynamic and stimulating. The right edge of the frame is what throws me off; perhaps moving a bit to the left and eliminating the "Mor...etc" sign would've helped. Either way, it's only a small distraction, and really an excellent shot. My family on my dad's side is Chaldean so I'm especially glad this has made it into your portfolio. Nice work!!

[2] +

maphoto (8082) 2005-06-07 21:57

Great result Paul, a lot of beautiful details, the light of the cars passing, the little start light just above the roof, the men on the left corner and so on. Very clear, excellent exposure, well done. Oups, I forgot, the sky is quite something also, cheers.

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taivo (1843) 2005-06-07 22:27

Perfect exposure and crisp, clear sharpness and colours. The trails of light are nice effects of the longer exposure. The lit dome resembles a rocket that is about to take off...

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supereira (9576) 2005-06-08 5:29

Greart shot.I like the composition and point of view.I like the speed of the lights on the road.Good colors,light and sharpness.I like the detail of the person.I like the contrast between the sky and the building.Good job!

billabongx (1585) 2005-06-08 8:41

Wow....It look dangerous!!
what a nice contrast in colour and light here!
A very interesting note, too!
byebye
daniele

kajenn (2462) 2005-06-09 21:05

Not only a great night shot, Paul, but also - as so often - a carefully chosen view. If this isn't 'learning about the world', I don't know what is. Your note include some amazing figures, going way beyond my imagination. And together with the eminent shot - which in a way is integrating these figures into the daily life of Dearborn - showing the museum and the dome of the mosque, this is very far from the preconceived image of the United States of America. Especially us Europeans (I won't mention any nations) tend to think that the United States is very homogeneous - that Americans are 'this way' or 'that way' - when in reality it's a giant mixture of different xx-Americans. I'm very satisfied with your way of showing this. And the light in this image is very well handled - 5,6 seems to be a very proper aperture - and the composition is great, placing the blurred person and the dome in opposite corners. Despite the speeding headlights it's a very static image and the capture of the sky is beautiful. Very well done!

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Stepan (27210) 2005-06-10 15:06

A great pic thanks to your exposition time...
The passing cars give a lot of personnality to your shot.
St駱hane

premels (2400) 2005-06-11 8:13

Hi Paul, The blue/green hues dominate this picture giving it a razor edge sharpness. The isolated man silhouette is a wonder. The overall atmosphere is cold and clean and the lines left by the car headlights creates a strange sense of absence. The picture goes to my favorites.

elihesamian (26149) 2005-06-11 14:19

OHHHH!

what did you did,Paul ?!!!
indeed an excellent result and night shot,no doubt,it captured,skilfully,you are master in this motif,in a fine way worked and wonderful light controlling you had with to reach an attractive result,very well done!
The note is great,I didn't know about Arab population and their stories in Michigan-Dearborn.very interesting note,here.
I'm wondering about colors,such beautiful and combination you managed here,...very well composed and it goes to my favorite gallery,too.
Thanks for posting it,Paul!
Best Regards
M

jrzufferey (7305) 2005-06-12 4:52

F駘icitation Paul, j'aime beaucoup cette note nocturne de la cit�. Ciao /jr

zig (2456) 2005-07-14 6:16

This is so cool, great exposure settings and the lights and the car lamps draws nice views here. It was wise to have a man on left hand corner, it adds a humanity sense in the shot which I really like. I thought I commented on this a long time ago, but I found I didn't... so decided to give out a delayed comment.

bertolucci (14052) 2005-08-28 13:09

Hi Paul, this is an exquisite night shot, the clours, the light streaks, the multiple stars and the deep indigo sky, with still some natural light in it, set the stage for the modernist arabesque architecture on display here. What a wonderful, crisp and dynamic work that comes again with a very interesting note!!
Regards from Rotterdam, Bert.