Photographing The World in One Day

The world in one day is a photographic project which takes a lot of planning and a lot of help from many photographers all working in unison and carefully coordinated to achieve one main purpose and one which has been tried on several occasions and with several variations in themes. There have even been books that have been written around it too. Some more successful than others.

The first thing that you will notice is that it will definitively take some time to prepare and to secure the proper contacts as well as the proper vehicle to bring it all together. In a nutshell, the project involves one photographer from every country in the world that will take one main image of his part of the world which is truly representational of the country where each photographer lives.

It should be done at a designated specific time and among the logistics considerations, it should be focused on one type of subject or alternatively the image should clearly be identifiable as being a photo of a particular country like the United States, Africa, England and every other country on the map.

For example for the United States it could be a photograph of the Statue of Liberty, for Australia it cold be a shot of Sydney Harbor, for England it could be a shot of Big Ben, for France it could be an image of the Eiffel Tower and so on.

So you should be starting to see the amount of logistics that goes into conducting such a project but this is a uniquely suited format for a book project and for several other commercial purposes which have the potential of turning it into a very successful enterprising venture.

There are several variations such as not recording architectural subjects but rather anything that the resident photographer feels "this is my country" at the precise moment he or she is taking the shot.

The reason for doing the venture at one specific time of day is to showcase the many different facets that are available all over the world and makes an audience truly become aware that just because it is day where they live, it can at that same time, be totally different somewhere else in the globe.

Although we mostly know that differences in time zones exist it is not until we see this side by side that it really makes sense and brings the experience into perspective.

Probably the hardest part of making this project come to life, as it were, would be to secure the services for making each image available to one main presentation vehicle that will in turn make the images available to all at the same time.

With today's technological advances this should not be too difficult. Web sites are specially suited for this, but the best motive should be to publish a book featuring all of this images within one place.

Off course royalties, fees, cost and other appropriate funding issues should be clearly delineated and set prior to the start of the project so that there are no misunderstandings or issues after the project is completed. The assistance of a lawyer, publisher and others is a necessity very well worth the effort.

As mentioned before, there are many variations. One popular theme which has been done before is to take the image at midnight on December the 31 first, but the problem is that all images would be done during the night.

It could be done during a holiday like on Christmas eve, but not all cultures celebrate it. Independence day and other national holy days faces the same issue in that not every country has one.

The best alternative is to choose a random time like 12:000 pm in a random city like New York just to mention one, and have every photographer synchronize their watches and take their picture exactly when it hits 12:00 in New York city.

This will represent the best chance of recording images during various time differentials and will provide different views during the day, afternoon and night time hours and has the best potential of showing a myriad of distinctive scenes, weather, and characters.

Keep in mind that the project needs to have a consensus such as what format to use, which perspectives, and which transmission and presentation vehicle to use.

Lacking or disregarding this important element can turn out beautiful photographs but representative of previous themes. In other words; more of the same.

Researching, planning and enforcing this consensus is paramount if the project is to be done at all, or at least done as it is intended.

An important factor that also must be considered is to allow the photographer's artistry to show if the resulting images are to carry an expectancy of being truly original.

Set rules and guidelines but leave enough room for compromise and to accommodate unforeseen circumstances and you are bound to be part of the creation of a fun, and possible very rewarding photographic experience.

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