This has been tougher than I thought.

Not the job, or challenges, but physically being in Detroit.

From playing sports with old friends and seeing family in the suburbs to visiting my fiancé in Chicago every other week, I feel like I haven’t been here much. It’s hit me this week, as February dwindled down, that there’s only 6 months left in this fellowship and that I feel like I haven’t been fully present in what I’ve been doing here. I think since I’ve been pulled in many directions and spent so much time outside the city, I haven’t felt like I a true Detroiter. Sure, everything I own is in Detroit, and my monthly bills list the city as my address, but I am not sure this has become home yet.

That means there’s only six more months to change that. Only six more months to immerse myself in a city where I’ve always wanted to work. Only six months left to work with this group of amazing people, to build strong friendships, to work in this unique space and help transform a city I love. That’s not that much time when you think about it.

But I have a plan.

Last week I thought about what I listed as things I wanted to get out of this Challenge Detroit experience. I wrote down things like lasting friendships, growth in leadership skills, exposure to different industries, an ability to impact the lives of others, a deeper connection to the City, and the ability to act as a bridge for people that don’t know Detroit or haven’t been here in quite some time.

Most of this is happening through the fellowship, but I thought about how could I personally make sure that at the end of these 6 months these things happened.

Then it hit me. I’ve always wanted to do a photo project during my year here, but never knew the right subject or how I should go about producing it until one day I woke up with an idea.

There are 143 square miles in Detroit (if you round up, and include water). What better way to immerse yourself in the city then through photography that takes you to every corner of Detroit.

So that’s my plan. Six months to take at least (probably many more) 143 pictures of this city, one in every square mile. To document the people, places, buildings, spaces, and so many other things that make this city amazing.

I’ll be updating my photography website, and writing another blog as I do it. So stay tuned for updates.

Here’s my first shot for it, a photo of Detroit Native and Challenge Detroiter, Brandon Bufford. More on this shot a little later.

1 down. 142 to go.