Good. Without the link I would have to Google it to share with the many photographers I know - most employed, but a few would fall over themselves for this.
So thanks for posting.
I’d like to go to that private island that Australia had in their contest a few months ago and take pictures of whatever hot girl is sure to win the contest. For 6 months.
Without her knowing I’m there.
Actually, that sounds fairly banal. Wow they want to travel the world? Amazing!
Hehe. Yeah. Sorry, I meant the first one was inspiring. I just grabbed another “big” idea at random.
I’d say I wanted to take pictures in spaaaaaaace and request that they pay NASA 50 grand to take me along on the next shuttle launch.
I think it would cost 50k to get NASA to take your toenail clippings on the next shuttle flight.
I’d take pictures for wikipedia entries.
What a depressing contest. All these would-be photographers and everyone is coming up with the exact same idea - let’s travel the world and shoot poor and/or war-torn populaces. I’m not sure how any of these guys are going to frame and focus correctly between all the sad head-shaking they plan on doing. Not that I’m commenting on YOUR idea to shoot poor and impoverished populations, Rajah, that sounds great. However, I can’t help but think it might get lost in the mix of all the others that aren’t as good, and also I think your screenname for this contest is terrible and will probably disqualify you before they even hear about all the poor people you want to photograph sensitively.
However, if you decide to re-enter with a non-jokey screenname and need a new idea, you can use this one for free:
"I’d like to recreate Eddie Adams’ (in)famous picture of General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing Vietcong soldier Nguyen Van Lem in the street in front of a group of reporters. I don’t know how Adams managed to capture the peak action so perfectly, and to tell the truth I’m still figuring out all the options on my D700, so I’d like to have several chances at it. I need to know where they are executing people in the street and don’t mind photographers. I’m guessing most of these place will be cheap so the lion’s share of the $50,000 can go to bribing the local strongarms. Maybe they can also use slower bullets? If I use some of the prize money to get a new grip I can get 8 fps with my camera but this still seems kind of slow for this purpose.
PS. The reason I want to do this is obvious, but if I must spell it out: I’d like to create an iconic image and am not going to depend on luck or talent!"
Also, I think you live in the Bay Area, so why not just walk around the city a little bit and take snapshots of the homeless like everyone else does? Is the key thing that they need to be foreign-looking? Some of those guys definitely qualify, and a full day is only going to cost you about $3 for the hot dog and soda you’ll want halfway through.
Actually, my idea is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now. And it’s actually the antithesis of all the depressing “Let me show you the plight of the world” ideas. I want to show the good things, and I want to show that they can flourish in even the most dire of circumstances. Though I imagine you’d know that if you actually, you know, read my pitch before deciding to judge it.
Also, my screen name is taken from my domain name and the name of my photoblog. Yet another thing you’d know if you actually decided to spend more than two seconds on the site before coming back to bash it (it’s right there in my profile).
However, if you decide to re-enter with a non-jokey screenname and need a new idea, you can use this one for free:
blah blah blah
PS. The reason I want to do this is obvious, but if I must spell it out: I’d like to create an iconic image and am not going to depend on luck or talent!"
I’ll give it some thought. It’s a pretty good idea. After all, who knows more about a lack of talent or originality than someone who does nothing but attack other peoples’ ideas just for the fun of it.
Also, I think you live in the Bay Area, so why not just walk around the city a little bit and take snapshots of the homeless like everyone else does? Is the key thing that they need to be foreign-looking? Some of those guys definitely qualify, and a full day is only going to cost you about $3 for the hot dog and soda you’ll want halfway through.
So is there a reason for your vitriol, or are you simply drunk and bored on a Saturday night? Just wondering, since I’m still new and am trying to sort out which posters are caustic-with-reason, and which ones are just dicks.
Did you just “blah blah blah” my awesome idea and then call ME a dick? How dare you, sir?
Okay, here’s another idea: I’d like to take my $50,000 and personally fly in an entire village’s worth of destitute people from another country here to the United States. Hopefully airfare expenses will leave enough left over to build a replica of their village in a photography studio or soundstage (they could sleep there at night, saving hotel costs). I’d then invite every other entrant from the competition to schedule time to photograph them. People would be free to use the strobes or smoke machines available, or could bring in such props as a freshly-killed boar (stuffed, of course), or perhaps the really ingenious could rig up a tsunami effect of some sort. This would be my gift to sensitive would-be photo-journalists everywhere! Let’s bring the mountain to Mohammed!
Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees.
Forget the village. Just walk into any L.A. Starbucks, hire the entire staff (comprised entirely of out-of-work actors) and set up your own Krippendorf’s Tribe somewhere in the hills. Figure, twenty-five actors at a $200 day rate for two or three days will still leave you $35,000 to spend on those four D3xes you don’t really need but figure will finally make you a “real” photographer.
p.s. After clarifying in PMs, you can rest assured you’re more of “caustic-with-reason” than a dick.
Though only just.