via 144 W Lafayette : originally uploaded Jan 26th of last year

On the 24th, Erica, Jami and I went on a photo adventure in Detroit. While on our way to an empty house on Parkview, we passed the old Lafayette building and saw it was in the middle of being demolished. 

It’s sad to see a building like this go to such waste thanks to mismanagement and a short-sighted city counsel. Apparently there’s plans to turn it into a small park… 

Watching it come down just reminded me of a “Detroit Now and Then” book that Erica has - one thing is obvious when flipping through the pages: Detroit used to be one of the most beautiful cities in the country… and it’s falling apart. 

One of my favorite example of sites working together to create a service is Flickr + Photojojo, their twice a month Time Capsule is something I always look forward to seeing in my inbox. Sadly, Time Capsule, which emails you photos from exactly a year ago, only works with Flickr, but the idea is still great. 

So, until someone comes along and invents an automated service, I thought I would go about this old school: manually. I have Hit List set to remind me every 2-3 weeks to re-share something from the same time last year, whether that be a twitter, or a video uploaded to Vimeo, or even one of the photos sent to me through Photojojo. 

This is my 1st this time last year post, and it’s pretty spot-on, Erica, Jami and I spent an entire day in Detroit exactly one year and three days ago, and it felt especially fitting seeing that this beautiful building is now long demolished. 

I feel that looking back to a year ago always helps put progress in perspective. If you like this idea and end up sharing your own, be sure to tag it “this time last year”, I’ll be tracking the tag publicly here on Tumblr. 

Top