I was extremely fortunate to have been a part of the fantastic YYCPhotoBook 2009 project. It's a community-based photography book project, featuring 32 different Calgary photographers ranging from amateurs to high-end professionals. The goal was to show the city from various perspectives, outside the traditional stereotypes and stock-photo views. From start to finish, the project took 4 months - including recruiting the photographers, sourcing photos, editing, designing, and releasing to print. Duncan Kinney did an absolutely amazing job in wrangling the project and pushing it forward, and Connor Turner did an equally fantastic job in putting the book design together.
I love the project for a few reasons. First, it's a crowdsourced, grassroots community project. I described it at the first project meeting as being more of a community art project than a photography project. It brought together 32 photographers, with 32 different views, perspectives, and styles. The end result is an incredible, beautiful book of photography that is a wonderful representation of the city of Calgary and those who live here.
The other reason I love the project is that it is a non-profit endeavor, raising funds for the Brown Bagging It for Calgary's Kids charity - a local charity that is devoted to providing healthy meals to underprivileged Calgary kids.
It was truly an honour to have been a part of this project. The photos in the book are amazing, the photographers are inspiring, and the book itself is gorgeous.
If you'd like a copy of the book (for the awesome page 12 photo *cough*, or to support Brown Bagging It for Calgary's Kids) head over to the Blurb store to get yours now.
