the disposable memory project

The images from Camera 122 are finally online. The camera, originally dropped off in Las Vegas by Kirsty S. was handed over to Jean and Daniel during a Tom Jones concert at the MGM back in April of this year.

The camera then found its way back to Ontario, and into the hands of Karin A, who finished off the roll – or so we thought.

When the camera returned home, the manual winding wheel which allows you move the film on after each photograph had broken, so whilst it seemed like it wouldn’t wind on any more, I managed to fix the camera, and found there were a few shots left on the film, so I took a few images myself (would you believe I hadn’t actually taken any images for the project until that point!) around London.

We dropped the film in to be developed, and when we got the images back, all of the scans were offset and screwed up. Something was telling me this camera was jinxed. Fortunately, after some careful manual editing and retouching, we’ve managed to get the images online.

The camera has been travelling for 138 days, covered almost 2000 miles, 2 countries, and at least three people.

Thanks to everyone who took part in the camera – and if you recognise any of the locations, please comment and let us know. Interestingly – I think this is the first camera we’ve had back without a single person being photographed!

View the Camera 122 images.

Despite a number of cameras going to the V festival this year, we hadn’t yet managed to get a camera into the hands of a celebrity, until now! Chris C emailed us today to let us know that he released Camera 211 in to the hands of Suggs from Madness. Chris went on to say:

He may have left it lying on the grass when he went to perform his set. Anyway, if Suggs didn’t take a photo, he made up for it with a brilliant performance on stage.

And there’s proof in the photo above. Well Suggs, if you’re reading, do let us know what you do with the camera!

Our Cameras are in over 50 countries across the world – but now they’re travelling to the underworld too – Christy H. has written in to tell us about sending her camera to Hell. Hell, Michigan that is.

This weekend, I was invited to a bonfire in the tiny town of Hell, Michigan and decided that it would be a perfect place to drop a Disposable Memory Project camera.

Camera 207 was left in front of the Hell Country Store. Hell is located in Livingston County, about 15 miles from Ann Arbor. It does, in fact, “freeze over” each winter, which is a continual source of amusement. Nobody really knows how the town got its unusual name, but two theories persist:

1) It may be a shortened translation of a German phrase “So schon hell” — which the locals claim means “beautifully bright.”

2) The more popular legend is that George Reeves, who helped settle the area, was asked what he wanted to name the town. He replied “you can name it hell for all I care,” and the name stuck.

Whatever the town’s origins, you can now proudly say that a DMP camera has been through Hell. I just hope it makes it to Hell and BACK!

We hope the camera has more than a snowball’s chance of returning home – so if you’ve been through Hell recently – have a look for the camera, and maybe you’ll manage to snap a few devilish pictures (enough of the puns already!) Read more about Camera 207 at the camera page.

Summer is finally here-ish, and that means festival time. We’ve already had a couple of cameras go to Glastonbury and a number of festivals around the UK, but this weekend is the turn of the V Festival in Chelmsford and Staffordshire, and we’ll be there courtesy of @clara_bow, seen above talking to camera. Clare has the enviable (arguably) task of meeting a whole bunch of people at the V Festival, writing for the website, and she’s very kindly offered to take a bunch of cameras with her to give out to people over the weekend. There’s an outside chance we might even get some cams into the hands of genuine celebs!

If you’re planning on going to a festival this year, wherever you are in the world, why not take a camera with you, and hand it over to someone you don’t know. Great opportunity for some wonderful images!

We’ll keep you posted as to the whereabouts of the V Festival cameras as we hear about them being handed out.

Update: The cameras were released at the Artist Dressing Room compound by Clare. Fingers crossed for them being picked up and us hearing back from the snap happy celebs! Check out Clare interviewing some of the more confused festival goers.

See the camera pages at:

Camera 195
Camera 196
Camera 197

After just 32 days travelling around Japan and China, Camera 184 has returned home with a collection of images from Asia.

Originally released and left in Narita Airport, Japan by Michael N. in July 2009.
After travelling via Taiwan, the cameras came to China ending up with Ava who took photos, including the new Chinese Expo building.

Thanks to everyone involved, and the fantastic images can be found on the Camera 184 page.

Camera 88 has returned home, and the images are now available to see online.
The camera was originally dropped in Austin, Texas USA by Mark S. back in April 2009. It was quickly picked up by Dan A. and friends, and taken on to the Eeyore birthday party, where it was handed over to Cassie F, who kindly developed the images for us.

Check out the Camera 88 page for the full details on its journey, and please comment if you know anything more about the people and places in the images.

NB. The images are currently fairly low-res, but we’ll be rescanning the negatives when they arrive for higher quality.

We’ve recently welcomed Jon C. to the Disposable Memory Project curation team. Jon is one of our earliest supporters, and he’s on board to help out responding to people’s questions, updating the site, and generally being super useful. We’ve asked him to introduce himself below.

Hi I’m Jon. I’ve been asked by Matthew to become a community admin for the project.

I’ve been following the Disposable Memory Project right from the very beginning when Matthew announced he was starting it on Twitter. I really liked the idea that pictures can tell a story, and with the project, one camera can tell a few stories.

I asked Matthew if there was the possibility to get involved as someone who dropped cameras. I have to admit that after asking it took me a year to make my first drops but once I started that was it. I made some drops in Paris while on Holiday and when I got back give some cameras to friends in Glasgow to pass around their respective companies.

Since then I dropped Camera 99 at Developer! Developer! Developer! Scotland, a Developers (If you’d not guessed!) Conference in Scotland. I wanted to do something a little different with this camera so I asked the guys at the conference to pass it about and finish it during the day. I received the camera back at about 9pm and sent it back in to the project..

More recently I have passed cameras on to friends to start as well as drop. Dave C took some cameras over to Bali with him and Zev has just received Camera 186 just before he leaves for a tour in West Bali.

I love the project because of it’s random nature. Everyone sees the camera as a part of life but I rarely give my camera to someone else for them to take pictures with. With the Disposable Memory Project I get to connect myself to other people and places and seeing the updates I feel like I’m travelling with the camera.

You can reach Jon at hello@disposablememoryproject.org

Camera 160 and Camera 162, two of the cameras taken to Greenland with Sally R. have returned home this weekend. Sally R. took them to the Science Centre near Kangerlussuaq whilst she was working out there, and handed them out to the teams going out on the icesheets. Collecting two of them before she left, the images show amazing snowy lands and the work being done out there. Two other cameras are still in Greeland, one has been picked up, and the other is still at the KISS Centre.

Thanks for Sally and everyone who took part in the camera.

Sally R. emailed us a couple of days ago to tell us about some of the cameras we sent to Greenland:

Back safe and sound with two of the cameras, both of which are full of photos. As you already know I have passed one camera on to Sam d who was in our field party. He is waiting in Kangerlussuaq to find out where his travels will take him next……..

I also left one of the cameras at the research station KISS, let’s see if someone picks it up or not!!

Camera 84 has returned home after a journey of 82 days and 5300 miles.

Starting in London with Matt L, the camera immediately hit the party scene, going for dinner at Soho House:

“I took it to a dinner I organised for Michael Johnson at Soho house, where lots of people – russell davies, matt jones, matt webb, alice taylor, et al – took pictures, before we gave it to Michael to take back to SF.”

The camera then hopped across the pond with Michael J, and the roll was finished off in Oakland, California.

This was also the first camera to use our increasing global team of Project Helpers to get the camera back to the UK for developing and uploading. Karen B, our East Coast USA local representative helped the camera on its way home.

If you took part in this camera, recognise the locations, feature in any of the images, or just want to comment on the journey and images – please add a comment by hitting the ‘Comments’ tab on the Camera 84 page, we’d love to hear from you!