Traveling CF Card
I have an idea for a new photography project that could be a lot of fun. I'm collecting a list of volunteer photographers from around the world to participate in the "Traveling Compact Flash Card" project. The idea behind this project is to get a single volunteer from as many countries as possible to shoot a photograph on the traveling compact flash card and then send it on to the next person. The ultimate goal of the project will be to publish a book through one of the online publishing sources when the compact flash card returns to me after its journey around the globe.
I just started forming this project today, and I have a few volunteers already. I'm also very skeptical about the success of this idea, but I think it's worth a try. I tried a similar project a few years ago, but it didn't involve a traveling compact flash card. I collected a group of volunteer photographers from all 50 states in the United States who were supposed to make a photograph of their state flag for the purpose of making a large poster print of all 50 flags. I had lots of volunteers, but when the time came to produce the photos, I fell about 8 or 9 photos short of completion and couldn't find additional volunteers. I did find some replacement photographers, and still had difficulty collecting the photographs. I'm hoping this project won't meet the same fate.
I expect that the compact flash card journey will be a treacherous one. I expect to encounter several pitfalls in the project, but I have some ideas for contingency plans. Each photographer who participates will be asked to back up the contents of the compact flash card when they receive it. If the compact flash card gets lost in transit or lands with a photographer who refuses to send it to the next participant, we won't have lost the photographs. I'll be able to send a replacement compact flash card to the last person who made a backup and re-start the card's journey.
I know it would be easier to just find photographers and have them email a photograph. That would be too easy though :) I'll be adding blog entries about this project as it materializes...
It’s that time…
Doc Watson
I think I officially ended my sports photography work for the local newspaper on Friday night with coverage of the Hickory Crawdads vs. the Lake County Captains at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, North Carolina. I really loved doing this work and I'm gonna miss it, as I posted earlier. I start my new part-time job tomorrow afternoon. I'll be working in the custom framing department of the local A.C. Moore store. I have experience in framing since I spent about 18 months working in another local frame shop. I had to leave that job because of conflict with my school schedule. That shop isn't open at night or on the weekends. I'm having to change jobs because I need something steady and regular while I'm in school. The newspaper work was on contract basis. They called me when they needed me, and I went out to do the photo assignments. That worked out very well for a long time but recently, the work has dried up and I can't make ends meet with the small amount of work I'm getting. I needed to be brought on as a part-time staff photographer to get a guarantee of a certain amount of work, and couldn't make that happen. The newspaper said they would still like to use me when I'm available, but my availability with this new part-time job is going to be weak and not really when they need me to be available. I'll be giving them my schedule for a while, so they will know when I'm available. I figure that they will eventually find another person to take my place.
When I get out of school in about two years, I hope to be able to go back to doing the sports photography regularly...