Benefits of the Day In the life of Asheville project

For all of us:
Increase our creative energy
Shoot with the authority of a group project
Pay it forward with images donated to benefit future generations
Get comfortable taking pictures of people we don’t know
Feel like a reporter for a day
Make people smile
Meet other photographers, amateur and pro
Participate in an event aimed squarely at the greater good
Learn to better use your camera
Take a break from our daily routine
Focus -literally- on someone else
Love life just a little bit more
Bring order out of chaos
Notice beauty all around us

For gearheads:
Get out and shoot
Use even the obscure features of your digital camera
Break out that really old camera to see if it works
Show off fancy gear at the post event celebration
Meet other gearheads

For professional photographers:
Get guaranteed display space in the Pack library as part of the exhibit
Be rejuvenated by a project that depends on lots of people (not just you)
Gain name recognition
Feel the joy of helping document life in Asheville
Grow from the challenge of thinking about “Ashevilleness”
Be free from the constraints of clients for a day

For film shooters:
Revel in the beauty of film
Have enough time to develop, scan and upload
Shoot with more megapixels than anyone else
Look cool

I can think of more but I’ll stop there. Feel free to list more benefits in the comments.  I look forward to bumping into each of you while out shooting this weekend!

Sincerely,
Clark Mackey

Mad props to my friend Lena for help with this design. 

We’ve called around only to learn that most galleries book their spaces way in advance (like a year) and most are full until the New Year. So, we’ve added our name to a couple of lists for next year (2009), but it seems our best bet for the DITLOA Spring 2008 Show is still our beloved and excellent partner The Pack Library, who are bringing in the window cleaners in preparation.That said, I put out some feelers for a possible party/one night showing, and have a couple leads in the River Arts District (thanks to Jen of Faces of Asheville).Are you interested in having a one-night party/showing?If so, which dates work best for folks? Ash thinks we should wait until after the library show is down so folks can pick up their prints. I’d love to do it sooner after the shoot, but I realize that May is busy, busy (LEAF, Memorial Day weekend, etc.).If we get the show up at the library the second week in May (as prints are due to Ash by May 5) , we could take the shots down and celebrate on May 31. Or we could wait until June. Or we could have a party without the prints and just a run a projector (which I have), which now that I think about it, might me easier anyway. We could do that as early as April 26 (Merlefest) or May 3.Feedback, please?Also, see post below for a more comprehensive update.

1. 
2. Things are moving along for the second edition of the spring Day in The Life of Asheville community photo/art project.Some of the basics, as I understand them. Please weigh in:
3. Judges: We’re finalizing judges, but we have strong leads on two people.
4. Show space: We’re working hard to nail down display space. We should have  an update soon.
5. Deadlines: The photo shoot begins at noon on April 18 and ends at midnight April 19. Proposed deadline to get photos uploaded to the flickr site is April 23. We propose to have judging the weekend of April 26/27. Photogs would have a week to have photos printed and returned to a designated drop point (that can be me, my office downtown). 
6. Deadline for prints would be May 5. We would like to have the finished show up by the end of May at the latest.
7. Number of photos: At our last meeting, we discussed allowing each photographer to upload 15 photos, plus one which is their favorite and an automatic entry into the final show.
8. Tagging: When uploading to flickr, each photographer should tag each project photo exactly like this: ditloa2008. 
9. Printing: Photographers will be responsible for printing their photos (8×10). 
10. Captioning: Photographers should include their name, their photo title and a caption on the back of their photos. The caption is most needed for the library. We plan to donate these photos to Pack Memorial Library’s North Carolina collection, and they would like at least basic information about what’s pictured.
11. Licensing: By participating in this project, photographers are agreeing to a “creative commons” license because we plan to give the photos to the library. The library, as you know, lends material to anyone who asks, so it needs that understanding for any materials donated to it. 
12. Meet-up: We’re planning one more meet-up before the shoot. How does Sat., April 12 work? 

I’m excited about the coming April 18^th photo shoot. So excited that I’m posting a few thoughts about what the DITLO Asheville project has taught me.

1) I’ve learned to put fear aside and follow the action.

In my case, I like to make candid photographs of people. When those people don’t know me, it’s a challenge. This event has helped me to get over myself and just make the picture. If you’re trigger-shy when you see an image that happens to be composed of relative strangers, this is a good event for you – it’s the perfect opportunity to put aside some stage fright and click the shutter. It also taught me to follow the action and find events where people are focused on something other than the photographer. During the Spring 2007 shoot, the Environmental Rally at Pack Plaza was one such event, full of photo opportunity. I made several of my favorite pictures in the span of a few minutes there.

2) I’ve learned to follow the light.

Morning and evening light are both flattering. Most of us can admit that much. By shooting throughout an entire day – and not packing it in (entirely) during the noon hours – I’ve learned a lot about how the sun moves through the Asheville sky and what lighting conditions you can find around town. This has benefited me throughout the year. Follow the light. When’s the last time you watched where the sun shines, very specifically, during most of a full day?

3) I’ve learned to get out there and shoot!

Sadly, there have been many days when I leave my camera gear in its bag. Days of good light when other parts of life intervened and I didn’t make any images. But not on April 18^{th (and 19th)}! I really like the challenge and energy that this event brings to the calendar day when it occurs; my camera bag will get a workout on April 18^th, and that is excellent. Kudos to Jason and all the contributors for an event that is just the right amount of challenge.

Sincerely,
Clark

Here’s what we’ve got so far:

• Date: Start at noon Friday, April 18, and end midnight on Saturday, April 19.
• Photographers can submit a total of 25 photos - one “photographer’s pick” that will automatically make the final group, plus 24 other photos of their choice.
• Judging: Nicholaus is talking with Rob Amberg about being a judge. We also plan to ask AC-T photo editor Bill Sanders to judge again. Do we need a third?
• Deadlines: Deadlines for submitting photos after the shoot haven’t been set, as I recall. We talked about giving people one week - so April 26? Deadlines for judging also unclear, but the overall deadline is to have a final product one month from the shoot, so May 19 is when we want to have Spring DILOA 2008 finalized.
• Sponsorships: We’ll seek sponsorships from the Media Arts Project, others. We’d like a little seed money for printing, and possibly to buy a class of third- or fourth-graders disposable cameras to use as part of the project.
• Photo printing: Two suggestions here - first, we could charge each photo a $10 or $15 entry fee to cover printing costs. Or, it could be up to each individual photographer to meet a print submission deadline, which keeps the costs spread to the individual.
• Presentation: Mogmismo will create a DILOA web site to facilitate improved photo searching and presentation. But we’ll continue to use flickr for photo submission.

Also, we’ll explore two other options for prints: having a local gallery host, or having Pack Memorial Library host us again, if they’re willing.

That’s it, as far as i can recall. What did I leave out? Thoughts?