The Human Survey

December 13, 2009 10:42 AM

The Human Survey is a photo project by Nathan Jones.

"We want to go from city to city and shoot thousands of portraits. We average a portrait every minute, and shoot just about every person that walks by us."

posted by blaneyphoto (13 comments total)

People are OK I guess
posted by quoquo at 11:36 AM on December 13, 2009

Man, the right lighting can make anyone look Impregnated With Meaning.
posted by The Whelk at 11:43 AM on December 13, 2009 [2 favorites]

The result of the survey is: People are Awesome!
posted by Saddo at 11:47 AM on December 13, 2009

Hipsters.
posted by ZaneJ. at 11:54 AM on December 13, 2009

I'm doing a similar project in my city in 2011; in fact, I've just been chosen to be the Artist-in-Residence that year to do it. I'll be shooting portraits of hundreds of people at dozens of events in the city, all with reasonably consistent lighting.

The photos will be used in 2012 as seed media for the city Centennial celebrations for print, online and video presentations, including some pretty awesome building-side projections courtesy of Christie Digital (a local company you may have heard of). There will be a coffee-table book created as well.

About seventy prototype photos here: Portrait Project.
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:06 PM on December 13, 2009 [1 favorite]

Clay Enos has been doing this for years... Here's neat little how-to video he did.

disclaimer, Clay is a friend of mine, he also did the still photos for Watchmen and is working on the stills for "Sucker Punch" as well.
posted by HuronBob at 1:44 PM on December 13, 2009 [1 favorite]

Chris Irion has also been doing this with The Photobooth Project. Who was first?
posted by Xurando at 1:48 PM on December 13, 2009

Here's Clay's shoot from Burning Man
posted by HuronBob at 1:52 PM on December 13, 2009

I think most of the work on the photographer's web site is far stronger that his Human Survey photographs.
posted by imjustsaying at 2:02 PM on December 13, 2009

Here's Clay's shoot from Burning Man.

I like this one!
posted by Xurando at 2:25 PM on December 13, 2009

Weirdly, it's not very well-lit. Cool idea.
posted by basicchannel at 8:11 PM on December 13, 2009

my doppelganger must be stopped before he kills again
posted by The Whelk at 8:14 PM on December 13, 2009

Oh hai I'm in some of his earlier pictures. This is super cool to see him getting the respect he deserves. Dude spends a lot of time on his projects. and is very dedicated to his craft.
posted by comeonsurferrosa at 10:13 PM on December 14, 2009