I know it's kind of long but professional quality and extremely well done. I'd like to encourage you to watch. It was shot by the artist to use in shopping around for funding for a full-scale documentary. Andy, the founder of Beat the Train in Detroit shared it with me.
Some things I thought about:
-I wonder if the barren downtown city streets were shot during rush or in the early morning? I know downtown Chicago streets look just as barren in the early morning before the city awakens.
-Seeing the guy at 19:55 with a couple of empty 20 oz. pop bottles reminded me of the deposit scavengers all over Michigan. Heck, maybe they've figured it out, as Michigan has a recycle rate of over 90%. I recycle here, though, and do not miss returning recyclables to the store.
-The blackout of 2003, when the guy mentions it. That was so surreal. Did anybody else in the group experience it? I know it didn't hit Chicago.
Just watched this this week. Excellent. I was quite inspired.
I remember the moment of the Blackout. I was in a newsroom in Lansing. It was pretty scary. Power goes, generators kick in, and seconds later we learn on the newswires that NYC, and lots of other places also have no power. FREAKY!!! 9/11 was still quite fresh. Also interesting was that we were right on the edge. One side of Lansing, no power, but the western burbs, power. Also kinda weird. The gas stations on the powered sides had long lines. A strange, panicky day.
I'd bet those empty street shots are Sunday mornings. One of my fav. photogs, Gabrielle Basilico goes out and gets empty European streets in the same manner.