Dave Jordano’s early photographs of Detroit sat largely unseen for more than 40 years. When he found the negatives again, he encountered pictures that felt at once his own and almost as if someone else had made them. His story offers a grounded reason to revisit old creative work: time can change how we see it, even if it cannot promise that every forgotten project will prove remarkable.
How Jordano’s Detroit photographs disappeared into storage
In early 1972, Jordano was 24 and studying photography at Detroit’s Center for Creative Studies. For about a year, he photographed in and around the city with a 35mm camera. He printed some frames for school assignments, but put most of the negatives away in books. He had not made contact sheets for much of the work, and the books followed him through moves before ending up in storage.
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In 2013, more than four decades later, Jordano came across the negatives again. Many contained images he had never printed. He was surprised by their quality and by the observational skill they showed. The photographs had not changed; his distance from them had.
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The rediscovered pictures include diners, Greektown, storefronts, carnivals, car events, children, workers and street performers. One scene records an anti-war rally involving Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden. Together, these are glimpses of people and public life—not a comprehensive portrait of Detroit or a single story of urban decline or recovery.
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All About Photo places the images in a period of social change, five years after the 1967 uprising, while emphasizing their attention to daily encounters. That context helps orient viewers, but the photographs’ appeal also lies in their close observation of ordinary moments.
Why old work can look different with time
Jordano’s response was not simply that the images were better than he remembered. In his artist statement for All About Photo, he described the pleasure of seeing the work again while recognizing how time had made it feel unfamiliar:
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“To reacquaint myself with this work has been a most satisfying experience, knowing that I’m the creator of the work and taking full credit, but in many ways because of the distance in time from when I took these pictures, it can almost feel as if someone else had tripped the shutter, and not me, but knowing it was me in my earlier career, has been a real pleasure getting to know them again.”
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That distance can loosen the judgments attached to making the work: the frustration of a missed shot, the awkwardness of learning, or the standards a creator later developed. Looking again may reveal decisions, moments or strengths that were difficult to notice at the time. Jordano’s experience is an invitation, not a guarantee that every old folder contains a hidden success.
How to revisit your own creative archive
Jordano’s story suggests a modest, practical approach to old work. You do not need to declare it good or bad before looking; start by giving it another viewing.
- Find a small, manageable group. Choose a folder, notebook, roll of photographs or unfinished project rather than attempting to judge your entire archive at once.
- Look before editing. Review the material without immediately correcting, deleting or ranking it. Notice what draws your attention now.
- Separate the work from your memory of making it. Ask what the work communicates on its own, as well as what you remember about the circumstances in which you created it.
- Keep what still interests you. A frame or idea may be worth printing, organizing or developing further; other work may simply show you how your eye or practice has changed.
The point is not to force an old project into a success story. It is to let time offer a different vantage point—and to recognize that the person who made the work can change, while the work remains available to be seen anew.
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Where to see the rediscovered photographs
Jordano’s selection, The Year I Arrived, is an online All About Photo Solo Exhibition competition winner, presented October 1–31, 2026. The exhibition page includes his account of finding the negatives and his artist statement. All About Photo’s biography also lists his book Detroit: Unbroken Down (PowerHouse Books, 2015), a separate project documenting cultural and societal characteristics of his hometown; it is not identified as a catalog of this exhibition.
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