As an industrial photographer for Detroit Edison (now DTE Energy) where he was hired following his battle-scarred World War II service in the Philippines, Norman Zadoorian often roamed the streets of downtown Detroit with his twin lens Rollieflex camera during lunch hour and nighttime. He captured hundreds of compelling black and white photos of pedestrian street scenes, workers, and everyday people during the mid-20th century.
His son, award-winning novelist Michael Zadoorian, shared parts of his late father’s photographs with the State of Michigan Library in Lansing, who in 2024 hosted the exhibit The Searching Eye: Images of Mid-Century Detroit. He plans to eventually preserve the entire collection of thousands of prints and negatives by donating it to the library.
Now through May 15, 2027, courtesy of the library, the exhibit featuring 40 photographs and some of Norman Zadoorian’s cameras can be viewed in the Detroit Artists Showcase gallery on the second floor of the Detroit Historical Museum.
What to Expect from ‘The Searching Eye’
Zadoorian’s photos remind one of the artistic sensibilities of the famous French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson who pioneered the genre of street photography…