24-Hour Photography Project

I haven’t stayed up for more than 24 hours straight since probably May 8, 1981. That was the night a 110 mph straight wind tore up our town, and I photographed/reported on it for the newspaper where I worked.

Now I’m going to try it again. Once more taking photographs, this time to help NGOs get supplies to the Lesvos Solidarity refugee camp in Greece.

The project brings together street photographers from around the globe who volunteer to chronicle 24 hours of life in their cities. Those photos will become part of online and traveling galleries to help Lesvos Solidarity. Read more about it here.

It’s a cool project, and one that’s timely. The the six-year-old Syrian civil war has created nearly 5 million external refugees.

What’s a street photograph? Well, it can be hard to define. It’s usually a phot of people on the street, taken unbeknownst. But they could be portraits, taken “beknownst.” Could be people with their animals; people in sidewalk markets or cafes; people napping on park benches. Whatever. The common denominator is that the photos show some aspect of the human condition. They are part photojournalism and part sociological study.

They are not, however, snapshots. They come about when someone takes the various photographic properties of composition, lighting, depth-of-field, motion, and emotion and rolls them into a photo that captures humans being human.

Here’s one of my most recent faves.

Yeah, you get it. Humans being humans.

The project kicks off at midnight, April 1. As I write, it has already started halfway around the world. For my daughter and I, it starts in 7 hours, 15 minutes.

Check us out @drjoness on instagram, and everyone else in the project under the 24-hour photography project hashtag.