the disposable memory project

Released back in September 2009, Camera 219 has finally returned home after almost 700 days in the wild, travelling through four different countries, and passing through the hands of 7 people.

Started by John W. at his 50th birthday party in North Yorkshire, UK:

We met up with family in deepest North Yorkshire (Halton Gill), and boogied the night away to Bob Dylan and Basement Jaxx

The camera was handed over to family, who took it via Newcastle, and then on to Scotland, and back down to Hexham, England.

The camera was then passed on to Ruth, who travelled across the Atlantic on to Vancouver:

I received camera 219, from Allison and John while at Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey, near Allendale, in the north of England

Some months later, we heard about the camera’s whereabouts again in the June of 2010, as it had arrived at Granville Island, Canada with Justin S:

I snapped a couple of shots of the sun setting on the bay. A few weeks ago I left the camera on a 50 False Creek South bus as I exited.

Found on that bus by Jeanne H, it stayed within Canada, until it made its way to Seattle REI with Liz W, and then on to Washington with Ken, and finally to Karl V at the Stonerose Interpretive Centre, also in Washington:

It was discovered while the staff was cleaning up the center at the end of the day. We think it was taken to the fossil site with one of our families who went digging for fossils.

Finally returning home in October, 2011 – the camera has picked up a wonderful set of images from across the globe. Its participants are already commenting on the images, check out its journey at the Camera 219 page.

Camera 341, after 111 days of travel, has returned to the project and its 27 images are now online.

It’s life started in the Middle East, and whilst we know relatively little about how it began, it quickly made its way to the Walt Disney World theme park in Florida, USA with Carol J, the final owner of the camera. By the images it captured, it looks like it saw some impressive sites on its journey, including a visit to Petra, in Jordan, and the EPCOT Centre too.

If you have any more details about the images, make sure you leave a comment on the photo page for Camera 341.

Camera 24 was one of the early cameras, released way back in August 2008, and today, after almost 1000 days of travelling, over 26,000 miles, not including the return trip to the UK, after passing through at least six different people on its way, it has returned home full of images of happy people in the sun.

Nick H, who released the camera, had this to say:

“Woohoo! About time too…”

Fair point, well made Nick.

The camera has travelled from London, and on to the Philippines and then Hong Kong, after which it seemed to return to the UK and lay dormant for about one year. It then was reborn, and travelled on to Australia via Indonesia, and finally back to the UK for processing.

We’re especially proud of cameras which come home after long journeys, whether in time, or across space – and Camera 24 has done both, so thanks to everyone who was involved in the camera’s journey. Please let us know if you recognise any of the people or places in the images, so we can tell more of the story behind the pictures.

View the Camera 24 page here.

Camera 110 has returned with a roll full of wonderful images from its 560 day long, 13000 mile trip around the world.
Starting in California, dropped by Kirsty S. (who is our lucky charm, many of her cameras have returned home), the camera travelled on to Mongolia, before returning to Florida before it came home.

Unfortunately, it looks like some of the images didn’t fair too well – we’re seeing alot of images which are taken indoors just don’t come out (I think most disposable cameras are ISO200, so don’t do so well indoors or at night), but those which have come out are great, including what I can only assume are some family shots from Mongolia.

If you can shed any light on the people or locations in these photos, do let us know!

Well, the unbelievable has happened. One of our cameras has made the most remarkable journey. A journey that few humans would have the opportunity to make in their lifetime. Not only has it travelled almost 19,000 miles, but it has travelled to the most extreme parts of our globe. Little Camera 159 is the camera which made its way to the South Pole, and survived the journey home to tell its tale.

It started its journey last year in Swansea, where Sally R. created the camera:

We will fly via Copenhagen to Greenland where we are being airlifted by helicopter to the ice sheets to camp out and do hydrological field work.

The camera then passed on to Sam D in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. Two other cameras from the journey returned home at this point, Camera 160 and Camera 162, but our trusty little Camera 159 continued on south, to be found by Paul T. at the British Base at Rothera, Antarctica:

I was handed one of your cameras at a remote field camp called Sky-Blu at the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, whilst working for the British Antarctic Survey this summer. I took it with me on a project at the South Pole, and then returned with it to the British Base, Rothera.

If the images of Winnie the Pooh are worrying, don’t worry, polar bears haven’t turned to honey for subsistence:

I took a couple of pics at the South Pole – apologies if there are a couple of spoiled pics, but it was -30c and my gloved fingers were awkward! The giant Pooh Bear is another story altogether, but the image of a giant stuffed bear at the Pole was too good to pass up!

The camera continued on with Matt V.T. and then into the hands of Celine N, who brought it back home via Chile and Ireland.

We’re super excited to have been able to get a camera into the most extreme place on our planet, so thank you to everyone involved in getting the camera safely home. We hope you enjoy the images!

View the Camera 159 page for more details on its journey.

Camera 235 has been travelling around Singapore for the past 243 days, and has returned home with a batch of truly wonderful images.
Released in October 2009 by Shareen, the camera started its life at the opening of ‘thirtysix’, a local analogue camera shop – a perfect birth for the camera – there was even cake.

The camera moved around the city for a few months, and then we heard nothing of it until January of this year, when it was found again by Grace T, who finished off the film, and sent the camera back to the project.

Thanks to everyone who took part in the camera, and Eve T. for being our local project office and collecting the camera.
If you recognise any of the images, the people or locations in the photos, please add a comment to the Camera 235 page.

After 293 days in the wild, Camera 114 has returned home with 23 images from the West Coast of the USA.

Originally dropped by Kirsty S, who is clearly our most gifted dropper with an amazing percentage of her cameras coming home, the camera started life in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Thanks to Jenna W for returning the camera, and Melanie for helping it get home.

If you’re featured in any of the images, or recognise the locations, please comment on the camera page, so we can build up a story of its journey.

We’ve just had two cameras return home and the images have been posted – Camera 150, which travelled around the UK last year, and Camera 210 which made the journey from London to Australia and back. You can see both sets of images via the ‘Returned Images‘ section.

This brings us to 21 cameras which have returned, out of the current 265 cameras in almost 60 countries, which is just over a 12% return rate.
We’re approaching our 2nd birthday in April, when we’ll be doing a retrospective of the most interesting stories and journeys from the project to date.

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.

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.