One photographer’s imaginative and prescient for Detroit youth

by Brad Armstrong, Planet Detroit
March 20, 2026

Shaquille Quamae Hall was first drawn to Detroit when he was a youngster, and he got here to the town to heal “pain from youth,” as he describes it. The medium for the therapeutic? Martial arts, and the humanities of movie and pictures. 

When he was 14, he met his first actual mentor, a optimistic male function mannequin, Ronald Lee Jr, who noticed promise and expertise and Hall and purchased him a digital camera. 

Lee launched Hall to Jason Wilson, the founding father of a martial arts male transformational academy for youth within the metropolis, The Cave of Adullam. Wilson gave Hall alternatives to make use of and develop his burgeoning expertise in a relationship that continues to today. 

This led Hall to deepen his ardour and abilities for inventive pursuits in movie and video, not solely across the nation, however world wide. He ultimately participated in Open Roads, one other youth management growth group that merges creativity with wilderness journeys, permitting youth to inform their tales by way of media whereas constructing self-confidence, management aptitude, and life expertise. 

Hall works for Open Roads seasonally as a documentor and journey chief, and he has set out on a journey of his personal, returning to Detroit within the off season to “be for others what I didn’t have” whereas rising up. 

Hall, an expert photographer, is collaborating in Planet Detroit’s Neighborhood Reporting Lab. This interview has been edited for brevity and readability. 

What points or causes are most vital to you?

Mental well being, particularly in relation to males and younger males. And then entry to outside areas, notably for younger people who find themselves forming their identification. 

I need to have the ability to inject that into their identification … and turning into a bit extra aware of the surroundings, particularly in a spot the place it is sort of dismissed or brushed apart, like within the inside metropolis.

How did you first get within the work that you simply’re concerned in?

Now I work with a program referred to as Open Roads, and we take college students into outside areas. We usually do river journeys within the backcountry of Utah and Colorado. We do quite a lot of cool river journeys. So we’ll be on the Yampa, the Colorado River, the Green River. And it is a actually intense program the place we take 14-to-20-year-olds, and we get them outdoors of their consolation zones. I’ve the privilege of capturing them doing this with video and pictures, but in addition serving to lead the expertise. 

When I used to be 16 and 17, I used to be truly a scholar on one in every of these journeys; however rising up in Detroit I lived on Seven Mile and Van Dyke, so I lived on the east facet within the hood, and I used to search for these areas myself. 

My father wasn’t in my life, so I did not actually have anybody to look as much as. He would come and go, however he was out and in of jail. He was within the streets, so I did not have anybody stable. And that is truly stunning that we’re speaking about this, as a result of it is serving to me join again to my why — yeah, I wish to be what I did not have, to different folks.

What do you suppose is the most important problem dealing with the group or neighborhood proper now?

There’s this mindset that that is what it’s, and there is not any ahead progress, or there is not any want for ahead progress, as a result of it simply is what it’s, when that’s removed from the reality. 

Everyone is attempting to take a step ahead. You know, whenever you’re doing it alone, clearly, it appears unattainable. But many palms make gentle work. So if we’re all taking these steps ahead, or at the very least getting the concept on the market to maneuver ahead, I feel that can simply transfer the needle to a greater surroundings or group. So I might say: a mindset that you simply’re caught. So simply considering like, ‘Dang man, this seems immovable.’ But it’ll change. It is altering, slowly, step-by-step.

And I really feel like being outdoors, being out within the open air, that sort of adjustments your perspective, as a result of even outside areas, and even mountains, they appear like they will be there eternally. But they will not, you already know.

You talked somewhat bit about this, however have you ever been personally affected by the difficulty, the mindset of being caught, and in addition the difficulty of not having optimistic function fashions, particularly involving boys and males? 

I did not have any optimistic male function fashions in my life till I used to be 14, and that affected me. I spent quite a lot of time alone, and I did not ask for a lot as a result of I knew that there wasn’t — it wasn’t actually at my facet. I did not ask for a lot as a result of I did not really feel like there can be something for me to get, even from my mom, or something like that. So I simply sort of performed it protected.

And then once I was 14, I bought that mentor, after which I went on this Open Roads journey. That’s when my thoughts opened up. That’s why it is referred to as Open Roads, since you are getting on the market, and also you’re opening your thoughts. I really feel like that journey actually modified my perspective on with the ability to inform my story the best way I wish to. And that is actually the entire thing, telling my story the best way I wish to, not simply going, ‘Oh, I’m just gonna be like everyone else.’ That’s actually it.

And it looks like you’ve got actually viscerally grabbed onto that, since you’re a photographer and a filmmaker; and so, whenever you discuss telling your story, you are not even placing that in another person’s management. You’re like, ‘I’m telling it.’

Exactly proper. But folks do not feel like they will. They simply really feel like that is what it’s. And I used to have that mindset. Before the age of 14, I used to be on autopilot. I used to be only a product of the surroundings. I simply did not actually give it some thought an excessive amount of. I simply went together with all the things. And that is how folks get in bother. 

An important a part of my story is once I was 14, that was a extremely pivotal 12 months of my life. I bought into this residential scholarship program referred to as Boys Hope Girls Hope, and it gave me the chance to maneuver right into a sort of a residential boarding college. We would say, ‘I went to a private high school.’ 

So I actually went from not with the ability to … not consuming some days, to having a protected place the place I may examine and do the issues I used to be inquisitive about and go to a extremely prestigious college, after which in addition they paid for half of my school, so I bought fortunate. Now it is my flip to offer that again to the group.

What do you suppose your neighborhood or metropolis is doing effectively, and the place is the room for enchancment?

I really feel like Detroit could be very pleased with its folks. I really feel like folks, once they say they’re from Detroit, particularly out on this planet past Detroit, it is simple to attach over being from this metropolis.

Although I might say I really feel like typically the satisfaction of being right here is like nearly a shared trauma of being from right here. It’s like: I do know what you in all probability have been by way of, not saying that is a nasty factor. But I undoubtedly wish to shift it. It’s another optimistic expertise. 

I’m truly creating this system proper now, and I do not know if I ought to share it, as a result of it is sort of like within the developmental phases, but it surely’s a mentorship program for Detroit youth. And principally it is a mentorship program by way of pictures, and I need to have the ability to take them on a life-altering journey.

What’s your favourite spot in Detroit or Michigan, and why?

Marquette. ‘Why’ is that I went to highschool up there, and quite a lot of the explanation I went to highschool there may be due to the outside tradition. There’s mountain climbing, there’s caves, you may see the Northern Lights there. There’s quite a lot of mountaineering and tenting. 

And so rising up in Detroit, in Pontiac, that is not one thing I did, however after happening these journeys with Open Roads, I’m like, ‘I want to continue doing this.’ So once I was searching for a faculty that was in-state but in addition had entry to outside wild areas, that is undoubtedly the place I needed to go.

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Shaquille Quamae Hall’s imaginative and prescient for Detroit youth: ‘Many hands make light work’</p> <p>Brad Armstrong, Planet Detroit<br /> March 20, 2026</p> <p>Shaquille Quamae Hall was first drawn to Detroit when he was a youngster, and he got here to the town to heal “pain from youth,” as he describes it. The medium for the therapeutic? Martial arts, and the humanities of movie and pictures. </p> <p>When he was 14, he met his first actual mentor, a optimistic male function mannequin, Ronald Lee Jr, who noticed promise and expertise and Hall and purchased him a digital camera. </p> <p>Lee launched Hall to Jason Wilson, the founding father of a martial arts male transformational academy for youth within the metropolis, The Cave of Adullam. Wilson gave Hall alternatives to make use of and develop his burgeoning expertise in a relationship that continues to today. </p> <p>This led Hall to deepen his ardour and abilities for inventive pursuits in movie and video, not solely across the nation, however world wide. He ultimately participated in Open Roads, one other youth management growth group that merges creativity with wilderness journeys, permitting youth to inform their tales by way of media whereas constructing self-confidence, management aptitude, and life expertise. </p> <p>Hall works for Open Roads seasonally as a documentor and journey chief, and he has set out on a journey of his personal, returning to Detroit within the off season to “be for others what I didn’t have” whereas rising up. </p> <p>Hall, an expert photographer, is collaborating in Planet Detroit’s Neighborhood Reporting Lab. This interview has been edited for brevity and readability. </p> <p>What points or causes are most vital to you?</p> <p>Mental well being, particularly in relation to males and younger males. And then entry to outside areas, notably for younger people who find themselves forming their identification. </p> <p>I need to have the ability to inject that into their identification … and turning into a bit extra aware of the surroundings, particularly in a spot the place it is sort of dismissed or brushed apart, like within the inside metropolis.</p> <p>How did you first get within the work that you simply’re concerned in?</p> <p>Now I work with a program referred to as Open Roads, and we take college students into outside areas. We usually do river journeys within the backcountry of Utah and Colorado. We do quite a lot of cool river journeys. So we’ll be on the Yampa, the Colorado River, the Green River. And it is a actually intense program the place we take 14-to-20-year-olds, and we get them outdoors of their consolation zones. I’ve the privilege of capturing them doing this with video and pictures, but in addition serving to lead the expertise. </p> <p>When I used to be 16 and 17, I used to be truly a scholar on one in every of these journeys; however rising up in Detroit I lived on Seven Mile and Van Dyke, so I lived on the east facet within the hood, and I used to search for these areas myself. </p> <p>My father wasn’t in my life, so I did not actually have anybody to look as much as. He would come and go, however he was out and in of jail. He was within the streets, so I did not have anybody stable. And that is truly stunning that we’re speaking about this, as a result of it is serving to me join again to my why — yeah, I wish to be what I did not have, to different folks.</p> <p>What do you suppose is the most important problem dealing with the group or neighborhood proper now?</p> <p>There’s this mindset that that is what it’s, and there is not any ahead progress, or there is not any want for ahead progress, as a result of it simply is what it’s, when that’s removed from the reality. </p> <p>Everyone is attempting to take a step ahead. You know, whenever you’re doing it alone, clearly, it appears unattainable. But many palms make gentle work. So if we’re all taking these steps ahead, or at the very least getting the concept on the market to maneuver ahead, I feel that can simply transfer the needle to a greater surroundings or group. So I might say: a mindset that you simply’re caught. So simply considering like, ‘Dang man, this seems immovable.’ But it’ll change. It is altering, slowly, step-by-step.</p> <p>And I really feel like being outdoors, being out within the open air, that sort of adjustments your perspective, as a result of even outside areas, and even mountains, they appear like they will be there eternally. But they will not, you already know.</p> <p>You talked somewhat bit about this, however have you ever been personally affected by the difficulty, the mindset of being caught, and in addition the difficulty of not having optimistic function fashions, particularly involving boys and males? </p> <p>I did not have any optimistic male function fashions in my life till I used to be 14, and that affected me. I spent quite a lot of time alone, and I did not ask for a lot as a result of I knew that there wasn’t — it wasn’t actually at my facet. I did not ask for a lot as a result of I did not really feel like there can be something for me to get, even from my mom, or something like that. So I simply sort of performed it protected. </p> <p>And then once I was 14, I bought that mentor, after which I went on this Open Roads journey. That’s when my thoughts opened up. That’s why it is referred to as Open Roads, since you are getting on the market, and also you’re opening your thoughts. I really feel like that journey actually modified my perspective on with the ability to inform my story the best way I wish to. And that is actually the entire thing, telling my story the best way I wish to, not simply going, ‘Oh, I’m just gonna be like everyone else.’ That’s actually it.</p> <p>And it looks like you’ve got actually viscerally grabbed onto that, since you’re a photographer and a filmmaker; and so, whenever you discuss telling your story, you are not even placing that in another person’s management. You’re like, ‘I’m telling it.’</p> <p>Exactly proper. But folks do not feel like they will. They simply really feel like that is what it’s. And I used to have that mindset. Before the age of 14, I used to be on autopilot. I used to be only a product of the surroundings. I simply did not actually give it some thought an excessive amount of. I simply went together with all the things. And that is how folks get in bother. </p> <p>An important a part of my story is once I was 14, that was a extremely pivotal 12 months of my life. I bought into this residential scholarship program referred to as Boys Hope Girls Hope, and it gave me the chance to maneuver right into a sort of a residential boarding college. We would say, ‘I went to a private high school.’ </p> <p>So I actually went from not with the ability to … not consuming some days, to having a protected place the place I may examine and do the issues I used to be inquisitive about and go to a extremely prestigious college, after which in addition they paid for half of my school, so I bought fortunate. Now it is my flip to offer that again to the group.</p> <p>What do you suppose your neighborhood or metropolis is doing effectively, and the place is the room for enchancment?</p> <p>I really feel like Detroit could be very pleased with its folks. I really feel like folks, once they say they’re from Detroit, particularly out on this planet past Detroit, it is simple to attach over being from this metropolis.</p> <p>Although I might say I really feel like typically the satisfaction of being right here is like nearly a shared trauma of being from right here. It’s like: I do know what you in all probability have been by way of, not saying that is a nasty factor. But I undoubtedly wish to shift it. It’s another optimistic expertise. </p> <p>I’m truly creating this system proper now, and I do not know if I ought to share it, as a result of it is sort of like within the developmental phases, but it surely’s a mentorship program for Detroit youth. And principally it is a mentorship program by way of pictures, and I need to have the ability to take them on a life-altering journey.</p> <p>What’s your favourite spot in Detroit or Michigan, and why?</p> <p>Marquette. ‘Why’ is that I went to highschool up there, and quite a lot of the explanation I went to highschool there may be due to the outside tradition. There’s mountain climbing, there’s caves, you may see the Northern Lights there. There’s quite a lot of mountaineering and tenting. </p> <p>And so rising up in Detroit, in Pontiac, that is not one thing I did, however after happening these journeys with Open Roads, I’m like, ‘I want to continue doing this.’ So once I was searching for a faculty that was in-state but in addition had entry to outside wild areas, that is undoubtedly the place I needed to go.</p> <p>This article first appeared on Planet Detroit and is republished right here underneath a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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