the disposable memory project

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.

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.

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!

Camera 73 has returned from Frankfurt, full of images which are now online. Originally left in the Main Cafe by Hanna R, the camera didn’t move around a great deal, as Nina R found it almost complete in the same location. It goes to show that you don’t need to move around to get great images!

Thanks to everyone who took part in this camera. If you know the people who feature in the images, let us know, and we’ll update the site!

Our recent drop of Camera 88 in Austin, Texas has created a flurry of activity, and is about to return home. Dan A. found the camera on the same day it was dropped, and took it on to a party just a short distance away, where he handed it over to Cassie F. Both checked in with us, and told us about the cameras.

Dan said:

Me and a friend luckily were on our way to the annual Eeyore’s Birthday celebration at Pease Park which I was sure would make for some EXTREMELY interesting photographs!!

Cassie agreed:

Dan came up to me and my friend at Eeyore’s birthday to take a picture of us (we were painted head to toe in silver and gold paint)

Interesting indeed, and if the images on Flickr of the Eeyore’s Birthday festival in Austin are anything to go by, they certainly will be great pictures – check out some of the festivities here – http://www.flickr.com/photos/birzer/sets/72157617230826287/

Mark S., who originally dropped the camera, is also an amazingly talented photographer, and some of his work can be seen at his photoblog – http://londonrubbish.com/

Thanks to Dan, Cassie and Mark for being involved in this camera.