Photo of the White House circa 1860, from the DC Public Library Commons
The DC Public Library sent me the announcement below. The contest sounds like a lot of fun, and the mission is key: documenting our city’s history. Plus, the prizes are amazing - the winner gets an HD Camcorder, the first runner-up gets a wireless SD memory card, and the second runner-up gets a Holga lomography camera. Read on for details.
Have an eye for history – and a camera?
The DC Public Library (DCPL) is sponsoring a contest to help identify and improve information on the rare photos it has begun uploading to Flickr’s public photo archive site, “The Commons.”
The contest, called “DC Then and Now,” runs through July 3. To enter, contestants must:
• Join Flickr http://www.flickr.com,
• Visit the Flick group “DCPL Commons” http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcplcommons/,
• Find pictures on the site of buildings and locations that still exist,
• Look for the buildings around the District and photograph them in a fun or interesting way,
• Join the Flickr group “DC Then & Now” http://www.flickr.com/groups/dcthenandnow/,
• Upload their picture with a link to the original DCPL Commons photo, and
• Grant a Creative Commons license http://creativecommons.org/license/.
The grand-prize winner will receive a HD Camcorder. The first runner-up will receive a wireless SD memory card. The second runner-up will receive a Holga lomography camera equipped with flashes and special lenses that are designed to generate imperfect photos essential to this style of photography such as photos that are over exposed or blurry.
The Library launched this contest to celebrate being added to the list of selected partners participating in Flickr Commons, a site designed to display public photography archives and to gather new information about the photos in those collections using comments. With their selection by Flickr, the Library joined other groups like the Smithsonian Institution who have already made images with no known copyright restrictions available online. Currently, 154 images from the Library’s E.B. Thompson collection are available on “DCPL Commons.” The 1,800-image collection, which is now part of the Library’s Washingtoniana Division, includes buildings, memorials, parades, houses, prominent Washington figures and street scenes taken from 1904 to 1944 by E.B. Thompson, a Washington photographer.
For more historical photo inspiration (added 6.12.09):
Thanks to Eric over at Mixed Media District for telling me about the “The Looking Into the Past” group on Flickr, juxtaposing old/new photos of featured locations. For example, check out these photos of King Street in Sydney, Australia from 1900 and 2009:
Photo by Scott Davies on Flickr
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Awesome!
this is so much fun, even for amateurs! cool prizes and such an interesting way to get more involved with your environment. thanks for sharing amanda!