About

Whoever said photographs bear witness to unrequited dreams never had the luxury of packing them away in moving boxes and forgetting about it for nearly a generation. Negatives from years of photography stashed away like my life was during the great eastern migration from Detroit to New York City in the late eighties. Ultimately, they were scanned and brought to life and seeing them again are like revisiting old souls. My years in Detroit, friends, family, many lost in the haze of my memories; to the ones that are still alive if they could see these images again as I have, I'm sure would allow them to bear witness. Candid shots, mostly street photography of Detroit, of strangers, who I capture surreptitiously with my camera have all likely passed on, forgotten. Buildings where I lived, the places I loved, the places where I loved: gone. A friend told me that the reason why I kept these negatives for so long was to cover my tracks; a kind of reverse-catharsis, that deep down inside were both product and victim of our past. He was right, I couldn't part with my images not because of what they portrayed but for how they made me feel. Old Dreams die. New are born. But the fading amber light on a clear mid-summer evening remains captivatingly the same.

palemagicfilms.com was created as a showcase for my work: screenplays and other narrative content and that of other artists. Explore the images and include them in your Detroit related projects or for your own prodigal amusement.

Gary Nowak
East Village, NYC
Ash Wednesday 2025