48hrs in Preston

Come and join a photography army with Preston as your canvas for creativity.

This will be Preston’s biggest-ever participatory photography project where every aspect of the city will be documented in order to create a unique archive of life in the city.

Documentary photography is a powerful medium which has a rich history in the North West, from Humphrey Spender’s government-sponsored Mass Observation photographs in the 1930s to the modern-day work of Martin Parr, Chris Steele-Perkins and Preston-born Ian Berry.

Using British documentary photographers as inspiration, 48hrs in Preston aims to capture life in this city, from its businesses and industry to how people spend their leisure time and their lives at home.

48hrs in Preston is a mass participation event for any photographer at any experience level. Across two days this summer –  Friday, July 07 and Saturday, July 08 – participating photographers will hit the streets to capture the city in all its grime and glory.

This project focuses on people – at work, at play, at home.

You will photograph your community, in people’s homes, gardens, on business premises, in shops, in pubs and nightclubs, in restaurants and on the streets.

The aim is to create a unique archive of documentary photography taken over two days in Preston.

You can be part of the project for an entire 48 hours or just one night, one day or just a few hours.

You don’t need to be an experience photographer to take part. And you don’t need a big camera – camera phones are perfectly acceptable.

There will be a pre-event meeting where we will give you advice on what to photograph and how to do it including how to deal with people – everything you need to give you the confidence to take part in this project.

I’ll make sure as many shops and businesses are aware of 48hrs in Preston before it begins, to make it as easy as possible for you to take photo.

Images taken during 48hrs in Preston will be used to lead the unique world-first Festival Parade – where large-scale images will be carried around the streets of Preston culminating. Full details of this event will be released shortly. Images will also be displayed via projector events during the festival.

48hrs in Preston is part of a larger aim to make Preston the UK’s capital of photography – come and join us and be part of a unique photography experiment.

Contact Garry Cook at gazcook[@]googlemail[dot]com to take part with the subject line: 48hrs