A Stranger View

Moving in creative circles can present you with an abundance of inspired and interesting ideas, little gems eked out from the corners of the minds of friends.  Some can start small, grow faster and larger than expected and become, say, the Second Hand Marching Band.  some are simple, beautiful, throw-away ideas that serve only to make people smile and feel part of something - and these are no worse for that.  One such idea is that of Neil Douglas, a friend of mine most commonly known as "Dougie".  Tonight, on his fledgling blog - Up My Tree - Dougie has posted the first fruits of a project he calls A Stranger View.  The method behind Dougie's particular brand of madness is simple.  He places a disposable camera somewhere in Glasgow accompanied by a sign saying "Hi! If you don’t mind could you please use me to take a picture of anything?  My owner will be back later to collect me.  Thank you!  P.S. Don’t steal, I am only a disposable".  A few hours later he returns and all being well, he processes the film.

Until the blog post this evening, I'd never heard of this project and I was both surprised and, I don't mind admitting, somewhat envious that I hadn't thought of it.  with the participation of random pedestrians, it is a project that exhibits a strange sense of togetherness amongst strangers.  As you would expect, the photographs are a little hit-and-miss though for me, the hits outweigh the misses.  The photographs, individually, are not as important as they are viewed together.  It is together that they have their greatest impact, and thankfully Dougie presents them all, including the final photo missing half it's frame as the film ended. 

A Stranger View is well worth having a look and you can find it here.