Polling Place Photo Project

Polling Place Photo Project, a film by Andrew Sloat, 2008
To commemorate the inauguration of President Barack Obama, we are pleased to share this short film by Andrew Sloat inspired by Polling Place Photo Project.

The Polling Place Photo Project was a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that encouraged voters to post and share photographs of primaries, caucuses and general elections — to capture the richness and complexity of voting in America. Initiated by Winterhouse in partnership with AIGA, the project first sought to engage voters during the highly politicized 2006 midterm elections. In 2008, the project was supported by The New York Times and promoted as a part of their online election coverage. The archive now includes almost 6,000 photographs, representing all 50 states as well as Americans voting abroad.

Other films by Andrew Sloat include: A More Perfect Union and 22nd Amendment. On this most important of days, we heartily recommend these films to our readers. [Editors Note: There is a new film not to miss: Article Two, Section One, Clause Eight.]

Posted in: Media, Photography, Politics

Comments [14]

How cool, fun, and inspirational. Go the American Voters with digital cameras, tomorrow is our day!

Dori Tunstall
01.19.09
04:21

Another beautiful and inspiring film. Thank you.

Michele Brautnick
01.19.09
04:26

Very nice. I like the low-tech approach to the video.

Just one quibble: The cards are put up too quickly to be read, and the hands can be a little distracting. It got better at the end, though, when it just went from image to image.

Nicole
01.19.09
07:03

Well done, and thank you for the opportunity to be apart of something so wonderful. Great music, and I though the tempo and title cards were in synch. Here's to four years of change.

Jennifer Hughes
01.19.09
10:08

As an American living overseas, watching this actually made me proud of (and homesick for) our country for the first time in a long time.

ecs
01.19.09
11:24

An absolutely beautiful document, Andrew. Thank you, yet again.

Eric Hillerns
01.20.09
12:47

pretty interesting, but why you americans always have to make appear your flag in every single video?

Reactive Element
01.20.09
10:55

Great video, made me want to live thought it again and remember all of the excitement of that November day. What a great election of a first time voter like me!!

Ian Fod
01.20.09
10:11

I like the idea but the hands are too distracting. The photography should be the main point yet all I could focus on, watching the film, were the hands and trying to read the text. In this case, I think the idea is trying to outshine the content. Polling Place is a great project and doesn't need a gimmick to sell it. Sorry to be a downer.

chris
01.21.09
09:26

...I should add that the technique is very smart and beautifully executed, just a bit overwhelming when paired with the quiet and subtle polling place photos.

chris
01.21.09
10:11

Thanks for this post! I wrote about it on my site and linked back to you here.

Moncef
01.28.09
07:18

Oh, thank you! It was an honor to participate in the polling project, and the film brought back some of the excitement of the day.

jenny
02.02.09
01:13

Wonderful. I'm officially an Andrew Sloat film junkie.

Rob Giampietro
02.03.09
07:25

How are you. Howard Hughes was able to afford the luxury of madness, like a man who not only thinks he is Napoleon but hires an army to prove it.
I am from Verde and also now teach English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "Men to work and banking have been also $69."

Thanks :o. Compare online share trading costs.

Compare online share trading costs
10.12.09
10:00

William Drenttel is a designer and publisher, and editorial director of Design Observer. He is a partner at Winterhouse, a design consultancy focused on social change, online media and educational institutions, and a senior faculty fellow at the Yale School of Management.

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