1) How do I participate and what does it cost?
It's free, and anyone can participate by simply visiting my office weekdays from 9am-4:30pm, which is located in room 120 Halsey Hall on the University of Virginia main campus, Charlottesville, Va. You will be asked to sign a log and indicate that I have your permission to use your image for this project. The collection phase of the project ends on December 15th, 2009.
2) Do I need an appointment?
No, appointments aren't necessary, but don't expect me to be there every second of the day. If you want to schedule something, that is, make sure I'm going to be there when you're planning to drop by, contact me by email to confirm your session. (doug.burgess@gmail.com Use E Pluribus Unum as the subject line)
3) How long does it take?
Collecting your face takes as little as 10 seconds, but you may have to wait longer depending on whether or not someone is in front of you, or I'm on the phone, etc. If you're a student or faculty of UVA, you can just walk over. If you plan on driving, I suggest you bring an extra person with you because parking is inconvenient. Have your friend wait in the car while you go in, and then switch-you watch the car while your friend gets photographed. You'll avoid a $40 parking ticket that way.
4) Can I see the results?
The answer is yes and no. Yes, you'll see the picture eventually, but no, you can't edit the images and authorize that I can only use this, or that image. You'll have to trust my judgment on this because I can't have everyone making choices as to which shot I can use. If you're that fussy about your picture, I recommend you don't participate. Also, this is not a formal portrait session where the goal is to depict you as a happy human being, or capture your essence. I'm merely making a photographic record of your face, something like (but a lot better than) a mug-shot, or ID picture. Hopefully, somewhere, sometime, there will be a gallery showing, but that's probably too expensive for the short term future.
5) Will you make a poster of my face, like the 24x36 inch prints hanging in your office?
Probably not. Most images will be used in the background of several individual montages, or as part of the final piece. I don't have any formula for which portraits will be turned into prints. This is primarliy a cost issue, and secondarily a matter of time management. Producing one poster takes about 3 hours.
6) Will I get any prints at all?
Probably not because the time and cost would be too much and I could get into serious financial trouble if I obligated myself to provide prints for everyone. About all I can promise are Internet quality jpgs, but they won't be available for weeks, possibly months after you're photographed. I might even delay releasing any images until the project is complete. Once released, you can use the jpgs however you want: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, whatever.
7) Can I pay you to make a big poster of me?
If, in exchange for a print, you want to contribute to the material cost of producing the collection, which includes the overhead cost of image collection (camera, lens, computer) image storage and archiving (external hard drives), promotional and production prints (ink, paper and printer overhead), that would be ok.
8) Why are you doing this?
There are many influences that led to this project. First, like any people watcher, I'm fascinated by human beings, and by the variety of the human face. Second, I'm a photographer by training and temperament, not by vocation, and I refuse to be defined by the clerical position within the University where I work. Granted, it's not a bad place to work, but it is, in the end, a job that pays my bills. Third, I am restrained by personal circumstances from fully pursuing photography as a full time career, and have to get my art out whenever, and however, possible. Fourth, I had to devise a strategy to take all of the above (my 9-5 circumstances, my irrepressible interest in photography, my fondness for people watching) and make it work for me. If you can think of my job as a lemon, this is the lemonade.
9) Where did the E Pluribus Unum idea come from.
Basically, it came about as I was doing something else. I initially wanted to collect the faces to make a large wall piece with as many images of different people as I could get, thinking that, though all the people would be different, from different parts of the world, and with different backgrounds and interests, there would still be a few common threads between them, such as their being in my office in front of my camera, being at UVa at least one day out of their lives, etc. It flowed from there that humans beings around the world are connected to each other by virtue of their existence, and that diversity and unity, rather than diversity and separation, were essential to the founding of the United States, and were also among the core beliefs Thomas Jefferson laid down at the founding of the University of Virginia. My hope is that the individual montages, those which depict one person portrayed against a background of hundreds of others, will communicate a sense of oneness between any one person, and the rest of humanity.
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