Yes You Can See Wind Turbines From Downtown Detroit With The Naked Eye

Today there’s been a minor internet flap between a publication in town and a mortgage billionaire over a video released yesterday to promote Detroit and the bid to get Amazon’s new HQ2 project.

Initially, the charge by the Metro Times was that the video by Gilbert’s team was doctored. To their credit, they updated their post.

But then a friend pointed out to us that the movie magic appears to involve more than fancy camerawork and playing with camera speeds. The video includes at least one scene that seems to have been digitally doctored. (Or perhaps it used an extremely long lens to distort the view as seen by the naked eye? See update below.)

Of course, Dan Gilbert didn’t take something like this sitting down, and fired off a couple tweets.

1/2 Slandering an honest artist for using a long lens to capture far away objects is a new low, even for the sly rags that spew venom daily https://t.co/AWnoTRB2lu

— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) October 20, 2017

2/2 Were close shots of the recent eclipse also “digitally doctored”? Do you pause for a moment before libeling artists like Stephen McGee? https://t.co/AWnoTRB2lu

— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) October 20, 2017

Thing is, as any river-facing office drone would know, they’re completely visible to the naked eye from high up (where the video was shot). One of our regular contributors confirmed this.

I can confirm that the turbines are easily visible from tall buildings in downtown Detroit. https://t.co/dtUJ2RsTbq

— Sven Gustafson (@sveng) October 20, 2017

So, we called around and got access to get some pictures of the wind turbines for you from the office of a friend (who doesn’t work for Gilbert or their companies) in One Woodward. The windows were kinda dirty and it’s a hazy day — far from the optimal conditions for the video — but you can easily see them.

Yes, the use of a long lens by artist Stephen McGee enhances the effect. But they’re not all that far off.

To replicate, we took a wider shot then we used a long lens. They’re visible zoomed out, but it becomes clear that you don’t need to digitally alter anything when you zoom in. 

And, Windsor is part of this HQ2 bid, as we talked about with bringing back the gondola-over-the-river idea.

This isn’t the most important thing at the end of the day, but it is kinda neat that we do in fact have wind energy so close to us. Even if it’s for another country.