When I Arrived, by Dave Jordano

When I Arrived by Detroit photographer Dave Jordano.

Made in 1972, when Jordano was just 24 and studying photography at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, the series offers an intimate look at the city and its surroundings through its streets, neighborhoods, people, and everyday encounters.

Most of the negatives remained unseen for more than 40 years, until Jordano rediscovered them in 2013. The photographs reveal a remarkably assured photographic eye, with a strong sense of composition, timing, gesture, and the decisive moment.

More than a portrait of Detroit in the early 1970s, When I Arrived is also the rediscovery of a photographic voice—offering a rare glimpse into the early work of a photographer already developing a distinctive way of seeing.