After exploring several post-industrial cities in Europe, Philip and I knew we’d have to check out the cities on our side of the pond. It was just a matter of finding the time, because, if you recall, gallivanting around Europe was no easy task.
Late one Tuesday night, in the midst of shooting our Detroit B-Roll, Philip found an unexpected break in our wall-to-wall schedule. Even though, we were swamped with an endless list of city shots, technically, we didn't have any concrete meetings until Friday. So if we postponed our B-Roll for 2 ½ days...
He looked up from his computer, “wanna drive to Buffalo tomorrow?”
Talk about short notice.
No plans, no directions, no place to stay...
Yeah, let’s do it.
2 ½ days…
Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Cleveland…
We hopped in Philip’s mom’s fuel-efficient VW Beatle, fired up the ol’ smart phone, and headed across the border.
I searched for profiles on Couch Surfer that had “photography” as an interest, and once we connected with the locals, they pointed us toward the abandoned factories.
Unfortunately, our last minute notice didn’t result in any open couches to sleep on, but oh well- after a full day of driving and shooting, a reclined seat in the rest stop parking lot was a godsend. …even in a Beatle.
(Rest assured kickstarters: we ain’t spendin’ your generous donations on froufrou hotel rooms; at this point, every penny we save goes directly into cooler things… like, color correction… or gas).
Highlights of the road trip include: the police searching our car at the Canadian border, authentic Buffalo wings, and winding through the tiny steel towns of Pennsylvania…
But I guess the best highlight is the footage. We got everything we needed, and we were back in Detroit with time to spare on Friday afternoon.
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