What is a blog?
That question, comes up all the time in blogs I’ve noticed. Recently I’ve read national articles and blog entries about that question... Some were terrific--some were horrific.
What is a photoblog?
I always saw this first, as an Art Project though.
How about we call it a photo-blog?
It seems to me, we are still defining it; we are still answering it. It seems, it’s whatever you want it to be. It crosses the lines into journalism, diary and art. They are by nature, supremely self-conscious even when they’re not.
I did not set out to write a blog. But since Minnpost named me “blog of the day”--it’s hard to deny this is a blog. One night near the first of the year, I wanted to do something with my art for the community. I wasn’t satisfied doing nothing...and I didn’t have the money to just write checks for a cause.
It occurred to me to photograph 100 abandoned homes. It clicked in my head, and the next day I was exited with a web domain and ready to shoot. I had no idea what would happen...and I would certainly say its had a life of its own.
I handed some photographs to politicians, met a reporter, went on Cable TV, (Minneapolis Expressions with Brandon Ferdig) all of that wasn’t anticipated.
I wanted it to be the photographs, but it seemed words were necessary too...
Links :
1st Walk, includes the story of why I’m doing this photography project, and how I came up with the idea. Focus on the home two door down, and the abandoned hospital two blocks away.
For an alternate black and white view, which I considered--click here.
2nd Walk, abandoned businesses, and the FIRST abandoned Nursing Home next to the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
6th Walk, Down Portland, up Park from Franklin Avenue to Lake Street.
Also I give two photographs to Mayor RT Rybak, and Representatives : Eric Paulson (in person) and to staff Keith Ellison and Michele Bachman.
7th Walk, The edge of downtown, a loop around Interstate 94.
And an explanation of why I’d like to remain apolitical doing this project.
Recent News articles :
By Theme Below :
1 Homes and Neighborhoods
2 The Mortgage Meltdown
3 Housing Protests, Nationwide and Minneapolis
4 Abandoned Businesses
5 Abandoned Schools
1 Abandoned Homes, and their neighborhoods:
NPR Mpls Abandoned houses invite crime Great Map
MN Monitor The great cover-up
MN Monitor Abandontment issues: North Mpls dealt a blow
Star Tribune He can’t fix it, flip it or even own it?
Editor & Publisher Cleveland Photographer
ABC News America’s Most Abandoned Cities
NBC Dateline Tape of Evictions
Star Tribune Auction
Star Tribune 3/27/09 City Council Approves Rehab Funds
Star Tribune 3/30/09 Last house downtown--to be torn down
MinnPost : Nonprofits get first look at foreclosed property 4/7/09
Star Tribune 4/15 Absentee Home Buyers
Star Tribune 5/07/09 Twin Cities Urban Renewal, bulldozer-
style.
Marketwatch 5/07/09 Rental/Ownership Equalibrium
Star Tribune 5/12/09 Animals in boarded up homes
Star Tribue 5/12/09 Project Homeless Connect
Ny Times 5/17/09 Minorities most affected
CNN Video 5/30/09 Abandoned City “found” in LA.
Boing Boing 5/31/09 Homeless on the Internet
Star Trib 5/17/09 Adopt, an abandoned home
MN Independent 6/18/09 7 Days to Vacate
Star Tribune 6/18/09 Judge : Vacate in 7 days
Mn Independent 6/26/09 Renters hit by Foreclosures
Mn Independent 7/17/09 Obama Administration abandons cramdown solutions
NY Times 7/19/09 Battling the Decay
Star Tribune 7/22/09 Distressed homes in Mpls for sale decrease
BizJournal 7/22/09 Foreclosure inventory down
Star Tribune 8/02/09 Home Values Down, Taxes Up
Star Tribune 8/04/09 Rosemary’s deal, falls through again
Star Tribune 11/1/09 Foreclosed Homes Overwhelm Cities
Star Tribune 11/20/09 90,000 Minnesotans face foreclosure
IO9 12/28/09 Abandoned Detroit. 1 in 3 homes empty
Star Tribune 01/06/10 Your neighbors--the squatters
2 The Mortgage Meltdown :
Star Tribune : $ 38 million bailout for foreclosed homes in MN
City Pages $12.4 million for Mpls Foreclosed homes
Finance and Commerce Bush era bill provides money
NY Times 3/30/09 Banks start to walk away from homes
HuffingtonPost Banks defeat foreclosure bill 4/30/09
Center for Public Integrity Who’s behind the Financial Meltdown-
Center for Public Integrity Map of Subprime lending 2005-7
Wall Street Journal 5/6/09 House Price drop--leaves more
underwater. 20% owe more than home
worth
NY Times 5/04/09 Once “very good rent payers” now
facing evictions. The Middle Class
faces eviction.
Star Tribune 5/07/09 Wells Fargo listed among top subprime
loan makers.
Bloomberg 5/13/09 Foreclosure, record for second month
Zillo Market Reports 5/29/09 “Appreciation” of Metro Homes
Washington Post 7/12/09 More families are homeless
Mn Independent 7/14/09 9 Million Homes face foreclosure
Milwaukee Journal Sentinal 7/14/09 Lenders abandoning foreclosed properties
CNN 7/16/09 1.5 million homes in foreclosure
Bloomberg 7/21/09 Summers, urges banks to lend more
Mn Ind 7/30/09 Loan servicers work the fine print
Wash Post 7/30/09 Big Bonuses at Rescued Banks
Assoc. Press in Huff. Post Recession free counties, shrinking
Star Tribune 7/05/09 Bankruptcies Up, Mn and US
Yahoo News 8/6/09 Half US mortgages underwater by 2011
Huffington Post 8/7/09 Few Mortgages, are modified
Star Tribune 8/14/09 Supreme Court : Mortgage Holders can remain secret.
Yahoo News 8/14/09 Foreclosures rise 7% in July.
The MNInd 9/23/09 Foreclosure stats, create murky picture.
Star Tribune 9/30/09 Half of Loan mods fail within year.
NY Times 10/25/09 Federal Judges asks Bank to prove ownership
Huffington Post 01/03/10 Foreclosures hurting Appraisals
Star Tribune 01/06/10 Dems try to pass vetoed foreclosure mediation
Time 01/07/10 Still Hunting for a Bottom
3 Protests, attempts to occupy and call attention to abandoned homes.
Mn Independent Homeless taking over forclosed houses
Huffington Post Planned Squatting Protests
Kare 11 3/29/09 Auction Sales, and Protest
NY Times Activists moving squatters into foreclosed property
Activist Group in Minneapolis : Economic Human Rights Group,
placing homeless in Minneapolis
KSTP 5 Group plans protest. 3/30/09
KARE 11 Forclose Auction brings deals and protest. 3/30/09
The MN Independent Homeowner vows to stay put (video) 3/30/09
Truveo Foreclosure Protest, South Minneapolis. (video) 3/30/09
Twin Cities Indy Media Rosemary Williams Press Conference 4/22/09
Star Tribune Friends rally to help woman 4/22/09
KMSP 9 Community Rallies Against Woman’s Eviction 4/22/09
Leslie Parks Update, YouTube : Video, Henn County Gov Ctr.
4 Abandoned Businesses
Star Tribune Abandoned Malls : Bleakdale
Star Tribune Another Tenant leaves Brookdale Mall 4/29/09
Ny Times 5/11/09 Ads on Abandoned Stores
MPR 5/2/09 Commercial Building Vac Skyrocket in Mpls
Ny Times 7/21/09 Stores go dark
Star Tribune 12/12/09 Sherif’s sale for Brookdale
5 Abandoned Schools, the School Meltdown, Communities close schools.
Start Tribune 4/6/09 Mpls Schools Downsize plan
Star Tribune Minneapolis to close 4 schools. 4/28/09
MInnPost Amid deep tensions...school cuts 4/29/09
Minnpost 5/04/09 Worried parents, tense times complicate
Minneapolis School’s overhaul.
Star Tribune 5/07/09 Mpls delays plan to close schools.
Huffington Post 5/06/09 Foreclosure: In the Midst of Crisis, No
Reliable Data
CBS News 5/19/09 Schools Close, as pop falls
Star Tribune 01/02/10 Downsizing schools, increasing segregation?
8th Walk, Clark Cruikshank and Rosemary Williams show me their neighborhoods.
Rosemary Williams Press Conference. 4/21/09
9th Walk, my neighborhood to the south. Franklin to Lake along Nicolet and Stevens Avenues.
10th Walk : One Block, I hopped out of my car at 26th and Penn North.
11th Walk, a trip to the countryside to take a look at some farm homes.
Past Galleries :
Below are theme Galleries :
Photographs of
100 abandoned homes in Detroit, has already been done by
Here’s his collection from Detroit.
A post-mortem of malls. Pages on Knollwood Mall, among other malls in the Twin Cities.
Updates
Rosemary Williams, did have a brief negotiation with her Bankers. No real compromise was offered.
6/19/09
Rosemary Williams updates :
MN Idependent 6/18/09 7 Days to Vacate
Star Tribune 6/18/09 Judge : Vacate in 7 days
Tag : Abandoned Homes, Abandoned Homes Photographs, Photographs of Abandoned Homes, Minneapolis, Craig Stellmacher, Foreclosed homes, 100 Abandoned Homes in Minneapolis, 100abandonedhomes in Minneapolis, Nikon, Nikon Lenses, Bogen Tripods, Nikon Strobes, MacBook Pro, Nik Software, Nikon Capture2, Nikon View, iWeb, Photographs of Minneapolis, Rosemary Williams, Eric Paulson, Michele Bachmann, Kieth Ellison, Mayor Rt Rybak, Ken Bauman, deadmalls.com,
100 Abandoned Homes in Minneapolis
Links
Photographs by
Craig Stellmacher
