now to a man you could call a friend of
Detroit he has been for photographing
the D for decades and his love for the
city grows with every photo photo
journalist Alex Atwell introduces us to
Bruce Griffin and shows us his uniquely
Detroit relationship with the deep I
can't write I can't draw I can't play an
instrument I can't sing there's all
these things that I can't do and I found
the one that I could hi my name is Bruce
Geffen and I'm a photographer simple
what a great way to live you know it's
not as much about the pictures although
that's my heart it's the stories and
this is the earliest picture I could get
my hands on it was the Northville
tunnels icp-ms but this is a Packard
ambulance in the package yeah and then
one day it was just doing his laundry
said he did every Sunday and the DIA and
the fountain son
Detroit would have to trade menu
it's it's magical and I've never seen
any place like it Detroit is the best
city in the world for this kind of
photography the kind that I like to do
nothing makes me feel like a great
picture when I get one but this this
happens to me all the time
this was the 4th of July a few years ago
this is down in Del Rey and I saw the
flag on the ridiculous car up on Jack's
that's where I shot that's all I shot
you see a guy standing on a porch it's
just be a dog they're perfect but I
didn't see them I shot the car so that's
what that's what happens sometimes and I
think sometimes if you can let go and
find and find some sort of freedom this
will happen to you when you plan every
aspect of a picture those are the ones
that are stiff and boring and just don't
work and this works because it was I
didn't see those new parts of most
important things
it's the best life I could have ever had
nothing better and joining us now in
studio is Bruce Bruce Giffen thank you
for being here Bruce good to see you
thank you I love that photo of the car
with the flag and the guy in the
background it's good stuff there it's
it's one of the weird ones you've been
doing this for 35 years yeah what'd you
do before that I was a Salesman I hated
it I hated every day of my life and when
I since this for 35 years I've been
happy now that doesn't mean I don't have
a argument with the girlfriend but my
work is I just I'm happy yeah I can tell
you yeah well I'm not rich either but
you know money is you know you rather be
happy than rich a look at some photos
that you have ahead of the Auto Show I
used to do a thing called the ugly car
show because my last name is car and I
go around and find people with the
ugliest whips that I could find it was
always a lot of fun that's the first
thing I thought of when I saw this but
this guy owns a pizza place and it's all
beat up the trunk is never down it's he
drives around like
oh that thing runs yeah alright what
else do we have
let's keep it coming oh my goodness I
call this hot tub because it looks like
there might be or should be one in the
back it's it's a weird one are you aware
of the Concord ela mom yeah yeah the
Auto Show for the lemons like the old
beat-up Shabana where'd you find this
one this is a place called Holly hood
that was up on Jefferson and there are
about 30 cars there and he never fixed
him because he drove them but he bet he
liked them kind of messed up a little
bit
yeah like bullet holes in the side of it
yeah but as you can see it was a car
wash a soda shop a pop art cafe soul
food and art cafes yeah turning back
around here that was the last photo that
we have let's talk about the photos of
cars you take auto show wise I mean I
don't I don't really shoot cars I should
him when I see him as you can see there
strange yeah if I see a stranger and
I'll stop and take a shot of it but I
don't really shoot him even though it's
ironic I have a show in Hamtramck right
now and it's not what I do but there are
times I do mention Hamtramck it reminds
me of a photo I took once unfortunately
all I had on me was my flip phone I was
I was at the DIA and a woman who looked
like she was out of Hamtramck central
casting like a polish grandmother and
the whole thing going with the long coat
and she was sitting on a bench and in
front of that mural and Thomas Edison is
like looking down you know what I'm
talking about looking down on her and it
the way it was framed I was like oh I
gotta get that shot you find faces to
shoot that way yeah if you just happen
upon them or you seek them out yeah I
did a project called the face of Detroit
and it's not plural it the face of
Detroit means any picture I put up at
that moment that's the face of Detroit
to me and I've shot about a hundred and
fifty of them I would off from a couple
bucks if they want it and I'd spent two
minutes with them and I'd get a story
because what I find with photographs is
the story is what makes it important you
can study and and work on a picture all
day and make it perfect but it's
without a story it's kind of lifeless
what is your all-time favorite picture
that you've taken off the top of your
head Joe Jones I don't know if it's in
your list or not it's a african-american
gentleman he was in Eastern Market one
morning and I walk I'm very polite with
people I I respect everybody but I
watched this guy and I says I gotta have
your picture look that way and he turned
that way and I got a profile and it's
it's amazing and it's just one of the
best things ever done where could
somebody see that online you have a
website or social media mostly Facebook
I have god I got five or six thousand
pictures up there I post you every day
Bruce Giffen yeah what is Facebook yeah
Bruce Kevin yeah you're artists
throughout the city remind everybody
about what's going on this weekend
well you the show in Hamtramck is called
hats gallery there are two of us one guy
does the the the picture that with the
dog and the gentleman in it is just shot
in one image my friend does Photoshop
and he creates pictures like that that
are really perfect and then mine are a
little bit there you go bruising it on
that note thank you so much for the time
today thank you for having