The annual MyLondon Photo Project will distribute 100 Fujifilm QuickSnap cameras from St Paul's Cathedral on Friday 26 May, 2023.
The project has a goal of empowering people who have been homeless or are still homeless. Training sessions for the project will happen in the first weeks of May with all 100 cameras expected to be assigned before the contest starts. The participants will have seven days to capture the London they love. Every participant will be able to take 27 shots on the film cameras which will be developed and they will be able to choose three photos for the exhibition.
The project is run by Cafe Art with the help of volunteers, many who are members of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) London branch.
The annual MyLondon calendar is produced from more than 2,600 photos expected to be taken on the cameras. Twenty photos will chosen by a selection panel made up of a combination of professional photographers, members of the homelessness community and past winners of the contest. From the top 20 they public will vote for their favourite photos - and the top 13 will make it into the 2024 MyLondon calendar (12 months and a cover photo).
The project has inspired many other cities to do their own "MyCity" project, including Budapest, São Paulo, New Orleans, Toronto, Sydney and Perth in Australia and Brighton & Hove. In 2022 Cafe Art set up a new charity called MyWorld Creative Projects which has a mandate to help more cities do the camera-to-calendar project.
Cafe Art is still taking names of people interested in taking part in the 2023 contest. Participants have to have been homeless or living in a hostel or sofa surfing since at least May 2020. If they have already been in two MyLondon calendars before they can't pick up a camera either but are encouraged to participate in the weekly photography mentoring group run by the RPS volunteers.
For more information about taking part please contact Paul Ryan paul@cafeart.org.uk
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