Big City Baby

This is Home #3

bigcitybaby — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 20:41:40 +0000

“This is Home” is a fine art project that explores people’s homes in frank, intimate detail. “This is Home” focuses on the emptiness and the absence of actual people, while celebrating the chaos and color of a room with purpose. If you would like to have your living space photographed for “This is Home,” please contact me directly at jimisweetnyc@mac.com.

Cleveland Greyhound Station

bigcitybaby — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 06:05:34 +0000

I often take the Greyhound bus to and from Cleveland, Ohio. It’s usually a quiet overnight ride, and now that many Greyhound buses have both power outlets and WiFi, it’s actually somewhat comfortable. On this particular trip back to New York, however, I was detained by police outside of the Greyhound station and told that it was “illegal to photograph Greyhound stations.” I didn’t really understand what law I was breaking, but I knew better than to press my luck and risk not actually being able to get home on time. Instead of telling me to stop (or even to simply leave the premises), the police officer took my camera and began to delete images off of the CompactFlash card. Ultimately, I knew that I had a handful of file recovery utilities at my disposal, but I’m pretty sure that if I wanted to file a lawsuit against the Cleveland police, I’d have a valid argument.

Playhouse Square Center

bigcitybaby — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 05:53:08 +0000

Cleveland has the second-largest theater districts in the United States, and I was wandering about the back alleys of Playhouse Square when I was inspired to shoot the odd, quiet and chaotic mix. I find my work to be heavily influenced by the lonely, dark cityscapes of French painter Claude Lazar.

Triskett

bigcitybaby — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:50:37 +0000

At some point I would like to photograph all of the stations on the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s Red Line. There are 18 stations in all, and some are much more visually appealing than others. Maybe that will be a project for 2012.

Tower City – Public Square

bigcitybaby — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:32:23 +0000

Beneath Tower City Center lies the Tower City – Public Square station for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. It is as close to a New York City subway you can get in Cleveland. I still enjoy taking the Red Line all the way from the Louis Stokes Station at Windermere in the east to the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport station in the west.

DoubleTree by Hilton, Cleveland Downtown – Lakeside

bigcitybaby — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:15:00 +0000

Since I was only staying in Cleveland, Ohio for one night, I decided to splurge (relatively speaking, of course) and let Expedia pick out a hotel for me. I ended up booking a room at the oddly-named “DoubleTree by Hilton, Cleveland Downtown – Lakeside,” which was once a Holiday Inn.

If you ever find yourself in Cleveland and need a place to stay, this is actually a nice hotel with a friendly, accommodating staff. And there’s a Starbucks inside.

Tower City Center

bigcitybaby — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:22:20 +0000

I remember as a child growing up in Cleveland that going “downtown” was a very special treat. Not only was the Terminal Tower the tallest building in Cleveland at the time, but my mom would frequently take me to the huge department stores (Higbee’s, May Company and Halle’s) and I remember that she really liked the fancy chandeliers. Tower City Center, the shopping center inside of the Terminal Tower was once a very fancy mall, complete stores such as Gucci, Fendi, Calvin Klein, Barneys New York and Brooks Brothers. You can still see in the architecture how it was once a very high-end place to visit.

Erie Island Coffee Company

bigcitybaby — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:27:45 +0000

Flannery’s Pub

bigcitybaby — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:25:11 +0000

Colonial Arcade

bigcitybaby — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:19:24 +0000

The Colonial Arcade is another one of those buildings that time (or at least the residents of Cleveland) has forgotten. There’s a few vendors and restaurants inside, but there’s also a ton of vacant storefronts. While walking through the Colonial Arcade, I briefly imagined what life would be like if I returned to Cleveland to live and set up shop in the Colonial Arcade.