What Cannot Be Seen

October 20, 2010 6:16 PM

What Cannot Be Seen. "This is an ongoing postal photography project. I mail matchbox pinhole cameras loaded with photographic paper to participants, inviting them to photograph 'what cannot be seen'. The cameras are then returned to me to be processed, accompanied by an explanation of what the participant has photographed." [on flickr]
posted by chunking express (15 comments total)

Wow, that site design really added a lot of emotion* to my viewing experience. Different experience on flickr.

*anger
posted by found missing at 6:21 PM on October 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

I linked to the Flickr set because I could more or less write the comments on Metafilter myself if I had only linked to the 'official' site.
posted by chunking express at 6:26 PM on October 20, 2010

I'm not much of a fan of looking at photos 75x75 pixels at a time.
posted by l2p at 6:29 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hey, look, an art site with a horrible, painful interface. How unusual!
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 6:33 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

Did anyone put one inside a refrigerator to prove that the light goes off when the door is closed?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:42 PM on October 20, 2010

Here's a site where the photographs weren't taken at all.
posted by John Cohen at 7:08 PM on October 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

This post is the sensation of being ready to sneeze, and then having the sneeze taken away from you.
posted by seagull.apollo at 7:10 PM on October 20, 2010

Hmm. Some very interesting photographs, but I suspect that has more to do with the great little matchbox cameras than the "theme" which contributed nothing.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 7:13 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

The world would be hideously boring if it was only filled with perfect interface design.

This is a sweet project - I love imagining those little matchboxes traveling through the mail, images enclosed.
posted by marlys at 9:26 PM on October 20, 2010

The Web needs more Mystery. Like this. Some of these places I have seen, most I have not, some I thought I had, many are resonant with my Often Average Life. Thanks.
posted by kozad at 9:34 PM on October 20, 2010

FOR THOSE OF YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT INTERFACE:

Here is a link to the Flickr slideshow.

I recommend pausing it (lower left corner) and making it full screen (lower right corner).

You can navigate with the left and right arrow keys, while the up and down arrow keys reveal and hide the caption, respectively.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 9:49 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hm. It seems the main page has been replaced with an ad for Parallels. I wonder what I missed, horrible-interface-wise.

Speaking of horrible interfaces, I haven't found a way, on Flickr, to view the descriptions along with much more than a thumbnail of the photograph. I opted to view them in slideshow mode and let the photographs speak for themselves. I was simultaneously haunted and baffled, to varying degrees of each.
posted by Kalthare at 12:39 AM on October 21, 2010

Firefox can't find the server at www.whatcannotbeseen.com.

Artistic.
posted by memebake at 3:44 AM on October 21, 2010

I don't know what happened to the original link. Maybe his site was hacked or some such thing. Anyway, the Flickr link works well.
posted by chunking express at 10:51 AM on October 21, 2010

I can see all of these things.
posted by cmoj at 11:14 AM on October 21, 2010 [2 favorites]