I almost won an award

Alright, there’s a bit of showboating going on in this post but it’s also about the importance of having your ideas validated by people outside of your circle especially when embarking on a project in a space you're unfamiliar with. In 2018 I realized I needed to learn to code to test some ideas I had. I’d never written a single line of code but thanks to GitHub, YouTube tutorial and approximately 3000 cups of coffee I managed to build what could be described as a passive-aggressive camera app an achievement (I have to admit) I’m quite proud of.

The app uses machine learning to detect patterns in the users’ camera view and simply prevents the user from repeating those patterns as a way to encourage creative thinking of what, how and why we capture the things we do.

In early May the prototype version was ready and a friend recommended me to submit it to the “Video and Beyond” category during the Cortona On the Move Photo Festival in Cortona, Italy. Before submitting the project I had showed it to exactly four people so I wasn’t sure how the photography world would respond to this concept - after all the concept is to challenge people to capture their surroundings in a different way of what they’re used to. But to my great surprise, not only did it generated a really interesting discussion around memory and photography among the reviewers but it also became a runner up to the National Geographic Society Prize which was awarded during the festival.

Director of Storytelling Scholarships at National Geographic Society Rachael Stretcher described the project as following: “The definition of great artwork is one that changes your perception of your surroundings“ (if you need proof see the video below - I’m the one screaming here!)

It’s now been a few months since this ceremony took place and it’s really given me the confidence to continue with these weird little projects and perhaps that’s the most important thing after all.