Waiting for the first theme reveal. Photo by John Biehler.
Looking out at the drifting sleet today it’s hard to imagine that just 24 hours ago 55 photographers were running around the streets of Vancouver trying to capture on film the weird themes we had thought up over coffee weeks before. By all accounts, even from someone who doesn’t believe in this kind of thing, it seems 12×12 Vancouver Photo Marathon was meant to be.
Build it and they will come
At 6:45 am 5 tired people arrived at Blenz Coffee in Yaletown to set up registration for the first ever 12×12 Vancouver Photo Marathon. The night before had been spent printing name cards, sorting film and figuring out how to piece everything together. 60 people had registered, most of which were strangers, and everyone was itching with excitement as to what would transpire over the next 13 or so hours. Matt, the owner at Blenz, helped reorganize the cafe to accommodate the expected influx of eager photographers and shared his curiosity about the day: “I wonder how this will play out”. His sentiments mirrored those of the rest of the planning committee. To the event’s creator Morten Rand-Hendriksen, seeing the launch of something that had been a dream of his for close to 8 years felt a bit like lighting a fuse not knowing what was attached to the other end.
Then the photographers started arriving – first in a trickle, then in droves. Soon Blenz was packed with eager shutterbugs dressed for the cold weather, armed to the teeth with photographic equipment and struggling to relearn how to load a 12 exposure 400 ISO film. Even though the 35mm film format is dying a slow and painful death in the shadow of digital photography, every photographer has, or knows someone who has, a 35 kicking around somewhere, and on this Saturday the dust was gingerly brushed off and films were loaded once again. There was pro-equipment aplenty, but the camera of choice for the day seemed to be decades old semi automatic or fully manual SLRs along with curiosities like a classic Diana and 3D cameras. Vancouver photographers it seemed have an undying love for traditional film formats and the 12×12 Vancouver Photo Marathon provided a venue for them to revel in their nostalgia. It was a social experiment gone very right.
And they’re off!
Waiting for the next theme. Photo by John Biehler.
As the marathoners traded stories of the days before the megapixel and powered up on coffee courtesy of the $5 gift cards Blenz President George Moen brought to each and every one of them the air started filling with nervous excitement. “What are these themes going to be? And how are we going to interpret them?” True to the tradition of the photo marathon the themes for each hour were kept secret until the top of that hour, and for an added challenge the planning committee had thought up 76 themes in total to be pulled at random from a box starting with the 2nd hour.
At the stroke of 8am team leader Morten climbed onto a chair and addressed the crowd welcoming them as participants, and thereby pioneers, of this first ever 12×12 Vancouver Photo Marathon and explaining the rules, outlining the amazing prizes and thanking Blenz for letting them invade the cafe for the next twelve hours. But what everyone wanted to know was the first theme. Unlike the next 11 he explained, it was not random but had been predetermined by the planning committee to avoid any confusion as to who each film belonged to: The theme was “My entry number”.
It may have sounded easy, but considering that the 3 Best Photo prize categories were “Creativity”, “Theme Interpretation” and “Æsthetic” and the main prize would go to “Best Series” simply snapping off a shot of the photographer’s own participation badge or a simple number just wouldn’t do. And so they left to find their theme in the early morning streets of Vancouver and the cafe cleared out leaving the organizing committee and the Blenz staff sort of bewildered. “It’s one thing to say we’re bringing 60 people in to a cafe. It’s quite another when you actually see 60 bodies in the same space at the same time”. It was turning into a spectacle – of the good kind.
Themes of perplexion
The prospect of hanging out at the event headquarters for a full 12 hours had been a big of a daunting one for the planning committee leading up to the event, but when the participants started returning to Blenz to get their next theme around 8:45am they realized it wouldn’t be so bad. The social aspect of the marathon was already kicking into high gear and people were talking. The regular coffee house customers were also getting curious: Why were all these people with cameras assembling in this particular cafe so early on a Saturday morning?
At 9am sharp the participants got a true taste of what they’d gotten themselves into as the seccond theme was revealed. The roll of paper said “High Hope”. And the response, not surprisingly, was a collective groan followed by 60 faces deep in thought. Photo marathon themes have always been designed to create an environment of creativity and challenge and this innaugural Vancouver event was no exception. The 76 themes placed in the draw box were all carefully selected to be stepping stones for creative interpretation and ambigous understanding. The true challenge of the marathon is always to take themes with no correlation or connection and interpret them in such a way that they not only convey an understanding of the theme itself but also ties in to the others. A daunting task to say the least, especially when you only have one shot per theme and only 12 hours to make it all happen.
And it wasn’t going to get easier. As the day wore on and new themes were revealed the participants were quickly realizing where the name of the event came form: Not only was it a physical challenge, but coming up with a new photographic enterpretation is a marathon of the mind as well. Through the day the themes ended up as f0llows:
8am: My Entry Number- 9am: High Hope
- 10am: Nosy
- 11am: Blank
- 12pm: Loud
- 1pm: Wild Goose Chase
- 2pm: Wild Things
- 3pm: Tie
- 4pm: Perform
- 5pm: Flash
- 6pm: Nickel & Dime
- 7pm: Panhandle
Time and essence
Photo by Benjamin Luk
As the day wore on the marathoners brought back stories. Of how they were stuck on the theme from 3 hours ago and were forced to hold off on the next ones until their creative muse came knocking (the themes had to be captured in the sequence they were presented), of how random people on the street had offered to help out in capturing a particular interpretation, of how other marathoners were becoming subjects for their photos, of how new friendships were being forged in the heat of competition. For the crew who had put this together getting word that the true goal of the event – bringing photographers from different communities, ages and walks of life together – was becoming a reality was the real payoff. The excitement of the actual event was just a bonus.
And it wasn’t just the marathoners themselves that were bringing in stories. Throughout the day would be participants who either didn’t get tickets in time or had only heard about the event the day before came by to enquire about future marathons. So did curious onlookers who wanted to know more and photographers who wanted to do the same with 120 film or just wanted to see the final results. Over the course of 12 hours Blendz was becoming a hotspot for photographers and the photographically inclined alike sharing stories, talking cameras and just being together. It was one of those rare moments where all the barriers come down and a community is created, even if it’s only for a day, around a common interest.
The story continues
Needless to say being a photography event there were plenty of photos taken outside of the competition itself. And many of them have been and are still being published on Flickr. By searching for the tag 12x12YVR and checking out the official 12×12 Vancouver Photo Marathon Group Pool you can find and contribute to the growing number of photos documenting the event from every angle. And once the 54 films returned at the end of the event have been developed they will be posted on Flickr for the world to see.
But this was just half the story, told form inside the bubble of Blenz and the organizing committee. There are more stories to be told by the photographers who participated. And we want to hear them. If you have a story to tell about the 12×12 Vancouver Photo Marathon, we’ll be glad to hear it and even share it right here on the site. Send us your thoughts, anecdotes, experiences and photos and we’ll share them with the world. We are here to bring word of you, the photographers who capture the light, into the light of the public and showcase the amazing talent harboured in this fair city. So share your stories with us and we’ll share them with everyone.
Stay tuned, there’s more to come!
Stay tuned as we will be announcing the details of the 12×12 Vancouver Photo Marathon Showcase where all the photos taken by our participants will be displayed for public consumption and the winners will be announced. The films are going to processing early next week and we can’t wait to see the results!
To each and every one of our participants, sponsors, volunteers and curious onlookers (and weather spirits) thank you from the the entire planning committee for making this such a massive success. And yes, we are already planning the next one for 2010.
Finally: Join our group on Flickr to share your photos and interact with the other participants.