I haven’t blogged in a LONG time! Not for lack of anything to say. Rather for lack of decision making abilities on what to blog about.
BUT, as many of you are aware, I recently hosted an event I called “The Worldwide Minute”, in which I asked people around the world to stop what they were doing, at precisely 5:47pm (their time) , and take a photo of what they saw in front of them. You guys came through IN SPADES. So this is what I shall blog about. Because I loves you guys:)
The idea for the Worldwide Minute was inspired by the #TOminuteproject
hosted by The Grid, in Toronto. Local photographers there were asked to do the same – stop at 5:47pm and capture 60 seconds of a Toronto evening.
I was so inspired by the results that I decided to host my own, but to make it even more inclusive (i.e.: not just for photographers) and thereby more eclectic. I was also extremely stoked to see how many countries I could get to jump on board and to see what 5:47pm in their part of the world looked like. You didn’t disappoint.
At last count, we had over 480 participants with over 15 countries represented from around the world. I’m glad that I chose a rainy day in Vancouver to host the event, one where I didn’t have anything else planned for the entire day. Because I was glued to my computer screen for the majority of the day, watching each country’s photos pop up on the event newsfeed, as the clock rolled over to 5:47 in their time zones. And I know a lot of people were right there with me, because for every photo that popped up, a new conversation was struck between viewers and photographers, as people shared stories about their home, their lives, and their country. It was fascinating. And heartwarming. And it made me very very happy.
I can’t really explain properly WHY this made me so happy. There was no real purpose to the event, other than to share a moment of our lives with people around the world, and to see what the same moment looked like in their life. We weren’t doing it to raise money for charity, or to raise awareness for cancer, or anything, really….other than the sheer connectivity of it all.
It was, as I said after it was all over, a Beautiful Thing. I’ve included (at the end of this post) a slideshow of some of the photos taken from around the world by participants (unfortunately the original music “A Beautiful Thing” by The Tragically Hip, that originally accompanied the slideshow, was ixnayed by the powers that be. But you can play that here, and just sit back and watch the show, if you feel so inclined. Tell me if you feel what I felt. That sense of connection, and community. Disregarding religion, race, borders, or oceans between – all anyone cared about was to show you, with no small amount of excitement – “this is my photo, of my moment, in my life. Take a look, and tell me what you think. And let me see yours.”
THIS. This is what I love about photography. The Worldwide Minute 2014
I invite you to join us next year in sharing a moment of your day with us.