Fieldtrip for Saturday (tomorrow)

I added all the information for the fieldtrip on Wed, but now I don't see it.   Not sure why it isn't here - I will re post it even though now I know it is kind of late. 

uting for June is to ride the People Mover, get off at various stops and make some pictures.  The people mover takes a lot of the walk out of the photo walk, but don’t kid yourself; there is a fair amount of walking and stairs.  Most of the stops had working elevators, but a couple looked like they weren’t working.  All but one had escalators going up, and stairs going down, the one that didn’t the escalator wasn’t working. 

During the weekend is the River Days festival just north of the Ren Cen.  Most of that didn’t look too interesting, but there will be a sailing ship and a Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay that will be giving tours.  There are also supposed to be sand sculptures, bands and a taste of Detroit food court.  Also, there are supposed to be street performers.

Date: June 21 (Saturday)

Time: 9:00 AM

Where: Lincoln Park Sears parking lot

What to bring:

• The plan has 4 stops, you can put in a $5 bill and get 6 tokens and 50 cents back.  Or bring $3.00 in change.  Or be nice to two people who have $5 bills. J
  
  
• Good walking shoes.
  
  
• Wide angle and normal range lenses, a fisheye could be interesting too.  If you are into street photography, a telephoto might be useful.
  
  
• I’d recommend leaving the tripod at home.  The couple of places I thought it might be useful aren’t too tripod friendly.  Of course if you have a caddy to carry it for you ….
  
  
• Money for lunch in Greektown.  My vote is for Fishbones.
  
  

Directions

1. Leave Sears.
   
   
2. Southfield to I-75 North
   
   
3. I-75 to I375 towards downtown
   
   
4. Exit at Lafayette Blvd
   
   
5. Turn right into the Greektown Parking structure.  Parking is free.  You will have to go up to at least the fourth floor.
   
   
6. Take the elevator to the first floor.  We will meet up here or just outside.
   
   
7. Turn right, the people mover station is at the end of the next block on the left.
   
   

Here is my recommended route. 

1. Greektown – This is the starting point.  Just as a warning, you can’t take pictures in the casino.  Shame that could be interesting.  BTW, there is a restroom in the casino not far from the entrance to the People Mover.  It may be the only one, just saying …
   
   
2. Bricktown – There isn’t too much of interest here, so we’re going to skip this stop.
   
   
3. Ren Cen – We get off here.  Technically we are supposed to get permission to take pictures inside with professional looking DSLRs, but the security guard was pretty cool about it.  Things to consider shooting:
   
   
   1. The Ren Cen architecture is really cool no matter what you think of the outside of the building.
      
      
   2. Out front on the lower level is a gorgeous yellow Corvette in a glassed in area.  Anyone who wants some suggestions on how to take HDR photos of it, I’ll be happy to give some suggestions.
      
      
   3. Walk through, around or however to the river side.  On the lower level is a neat atrium facing the river.  There was a security guard there, make sure you identify yourself as a retired terrorist. 
      
      
   4. We leave the Ren Cen here and walk out to the river.  My suggestion is to walk South to the plaza, check out the ships, people, etc…
      
      
4. Millender Center – We will be skipping this stop.
   
   
5. Financial District – You get a choice here, walk through Hart Plaza to Griswold and Larned where you can pick up the People Mover.  There are some interesting buildings and details right in this area so you may want to divert and take some shots.
   
   
6. Joe Luis Arena – Here’s the other choice, walk down the river to the Joe Luis Arena stop.  There may be interesting stuff along the river, and there are the stairs to Joe Louis.  The People Mover stop is a series of long ramps; that are creepy and photographically interesting at the same time.  There is an elevator too, but I don’t know if it was working.  If you get on at the Financial District I wouldn’t bother getting off at Joe Louis.
   
   
7. Cobo Center – This may or may not be interesting, your choice I skipped it when I went around.
   
   
8. Fort/Cass – I skipped this, there didn’t look like too much interesting here.
   
   
9. Michigan – The bus station is here, the tent like architecture could make some interesting shots.  We walk through the bus station area.  There might be restrooms here; I didn’t stop to find out. 
   
   

1. Times Square – We get back on the People Mover here.  There didn’t seem to be too much right here that looked interesting, but I didn’t explore all that far.
   
   
2. Grand Circus – There is a small park with a fountain here.  Not really too interesting.  Comerica Park is only a couple of blocks away if you want to get some shots.  There are some other interesting buildings in the general area that might be worth a shot or two.  I waked down Adams to Brush (there’s a neat diner at the corner) to Madison to Grand River to Broadway.  There are some shorter routes, but the buildings might be interesting.
   
   
3. Broadway – Get back on here.
   
   
4. Cadillac Center – By this point I was getting tired so I skipped this stop.  You might want to take some pictures of the station, there is some nice tile work.  You can also check out Campus Martius there but it didn’t look like much.  It’s about 2 blocks walk to get there.  Also there is the Skillman Library, which looks like it might be interesting.  Unfortunately the one time I went in there I was generally unimpressed, they haven’t done much to keep up the building.  The Hard Rock is supposed to be right near this stop too.
   
   
5. Greektown – This is the final stop.   This is where we eat.  And after for those so inclined go gamble.  Or maybe use those last two tokens to circle the route again.