Document your summer

© 2009 Pete Souza, used under Creative Commons license

Ok, so the picture above has (almost) nothing to do with my link today, but I felt the need to share. Taken from the Official White House Photostream on Flickr by photographer Pete Souza (official White House photographer), who has probably the best job of any working photographer right now and does a darn good job at it.

Today's link is to a project being run by the Art House co-op in Atlanta, GA called A Million Little Pictures. The co-op is trying to recruit 1,000 people from around the world to take one 24 exposure roll of film using a disposable camera to document their summer. From the site:

We want to give people a glimpse into your life. You can choose how much or how little to document and at how broad a scope. For instance, you can pick a single day to document or spread it out over time. Or, you can break away from a timeline completely. Another example would be that in order to know you, we first need to know your family or friends or pets. Get creative with it and simply use the term "document" as a guideline, not a restriction.

You can sign up on the website to participate. The fee is $18 which covers the cost of the camera and shipping, and probably helps with their exhibition costs. Shoot 24 frames of your choice, get the film developed, and mail back 24 4x6 prints for them to display. You retain the negatives, copyright, etc. Deadline for signing up is July 1st, and prints must be postmarked by September 1st to be included in the exhibit.

Even if you don't sign up for the project, you should think about documenting more of your day to day life with photography. I'm not suggesting that you take a picture of every single thing you do, but try to pull out the camera for more than just the big occasions. In my opinion, capturing the every day is much more rewarding than staged group shots at the family picnic (not that those aren't great photos to have, too). Tell a story with your photos other than "say cheese!" Take the following photo, for example:


© 2009 Simon Hucko

This was taken on a sunny evening on our front porch a few weeks ago. I came home from work, grabbed a beer, took my shoes off, and joined Rachel outside to enjoy the warm sunshine. No special occasion, but I captured the feeling of the evening and told my story in a simple photograph.

Take a picture today that tells a story, and share it with the world.

~S