The Asheville Citizen-Times today has a story about Citizen Camera, a project that was part of this year’s Day in the Life of Asheville shoot.
Thanks to reporter Paul Clark for his interest!
Here’s a tidbit:
Clark Mackey, who runs a small advertising firm in downtown Asheville, got the project idea from something he read online, about someone who put a disposable camera outside his office and invited people to use it.
“I thought that sounded neat,” Mackey said. “So I bought about five or six disposable cameras, and Jason Sandford (creator of the Day in the Life of Asheville project) had some, too.”
They secured them to benches and poles at Pack Place, on Wall Street, in the park at Eagle Street and elsewhere and put up signs explaining that the project was part of a larger project.
…
Mackey witnessed a lot of candid moments.
He watched people notice the camera, notice the sign, look back at the camera and read about the project. Then some of them picked up the point-and-shoot. Mackey thought they’d knock off a dozen shots, but people were as considerate as they were thoughtful about the photos they made — they took only a couple, then left the rest for other people.
“It worked great,” he said.
He’s been serious about his own photography since he received, two years ago, a collection of his family’s photos taken in the 1950s and 1960s in and around Houma, La.
When he got the slides, he was struck by the joy in his relatives’ faces. He’d never taken a picture like that, he remembers thinking.
The hope that he and others would and will is part of what inspired Citizen Camera, he said.
“We just wanted folks to see the beauty in the little moments in life,” he said. “Putting the cameras on park benches where people sit, we wanted them to stop and think about making a little beautiful moment.
“I think there is a lot of beauty around you, wherever you are. A camera is a good way to notice it. A camera when used well can bring out the best in life.”
