CADILLAC STAMPING PLANT SOON TO BE NO MORE - December 16, 2020
Cadillac Stamping Plant Heading Toward Demise
And another one bites the dust. It's just the sign of the times in Detroit. Buildings being shuttered, demolished, reborn again into something new. And that is what is about to happen to what was originally the Cadillac Stamping Plant in Detroit. Plans are to demolish the plant and build a brand new manufacturing facility in its place. You may have heard of the plant which was in the news in 2015 when a supposed $1,000,000 in collectable sports cards were found in the facility.
Knowing this would most likely be the last time to see the facility before its demise,, we headed out to take one more look at the place before it becomes no more.
As soon as I stepped into the building, I exclaimed, "What the f***"? The whole place was FILLED with old tires. Someone dumped a HUGE stash of tires, obviously not wanting to deal with disposal fees. They were everywhere.
You Can't Go Back
Doing what we could to forge a path through the tires, we headed toward the corner on the first floor that has my favorite machinery. I cannot tell you exactly what this machine did, but I do remember seeing binders in the area pertaining to water treatment, so I am going to go with that. It seems each time I have visited this area, the scrappers have taken more and more of the machines and metal in the area. It was no surprise to see more gone. This is what is left of the machine.
This scene depicts one of the reasons I so enjoy photographing industrial locations. The color, the rust, the texture. Sure, some people may not alight when they see this scene, but for myself (and I am sure there are others!) it is something we go out of our way to find.
Reflection Photo Opportunities
We continued up to the fourth floor. It was raining pretty steadily as we walked through the plant, and as we arrive upstairs we saw some nice reflection opportunities due to the water settling on the cement floor in front of us.
This scene was neat because of the fast-moving clouds. It was a great opportunity to capture what I like to call "long exposure clouds" (using long exposure to capture the movement of clouds across the sky). I also used long exposure to smooth out the water dripping into what would have been a still reflection. Using the 9-stop neutral density filter I created a 20-second exposure to capture the Detroit skyline from inside the plant. The fire escape made an interesting part of the composition.
I am not the best as remembering to take exterior images of abandoned buildings. It depends on the building, really. Some are noteworthy and some are not. Given my interest in industrial abandoned locations, I knew I wanted to capture the building before leaving. This may be the last time I see it. I hope to go back once more to get drone images of the plant. And check out my gallery from past visits to the plant, where you can also purchase images.
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