I know, I know I'm starting my blog post with a very old nod to a Nike shoe campaign, but it's true. Yesterday was Noel Night in Detroit. It's an annual event where there is caroling in the streets, and pop up restaurants, and tent filled patrons from all over enjoying the evening festivities.
This year the event format was changed to where practically all of the street events were either held inside, or held inside a tent. For me this was a definite downer; the photo ops were reduced by like, ninety percent, so I took a long pass, and an even longer ride on the QLine to downtown. It wasn't so much that it was freezing cold outside, and I had dragged myself out after learning that my new flashlight was "junk" with a short. It was that the Noel Night patrons thought that the QLine was free until the transit police stopped the train for 15 minutes asking for their fares.
The Grinch, Scrooge, and Old Man Potter, icons of anti-Christmas sentiment floated through my head as the lightheartedness of the night took a side step towards joylessness. The train finally made it's way to Campus Martius and I was in a mood. All I wanted to do was to get off the loud, and over crowded train, and go back home with some Sea Salt Chocolate Chip cookies from Avalon Bakery.
As I made my way through the crowd, and into the park I thought, shoot one roll, and go home. Luckily, aside from the train incident, everyone in the city was in a fairly good mood. I shot two rolls of Fuji X-tra with my Lensbaby Superwide and developed them this morning. I had little faith that I'd actually like anything that I shot last night; as I developed my film this morning, I vowed to go back. Detroit is really "lit." I'm reminded of New York because the city now has many visitors speaking different languages, and taking selfies as if they were in Times Square.
I'm glad that I spent my time wisely even though I was not feeling it - at all. I wasn't motivated I was irritated. I took out my Nikon I focused my subject and I pressed the shutter. I tell myself to work harder for myself than I would for someone else. I Do this. It works.