500 METRES: an experiment in documentary photography

THE INDEX / a manifesto

All sites listed here have been developed by photographers who are participating in a global experiment in documentary photography. We hope that the images presented here help all of us gain a better understanding of the complex and somtimes problematic diversity of the world in which we find ourselves. We hope they help all who look at them see the world with more compassion and understanding.

If you would like to contribute your own work to this project, please go to the manifesto page for information on how to take part.

CANADA, Yellowknife, North West Territory (Photographer: Tim Atherton // www.kairosphoto.com)
There no longer appears to be a clear division between urban and rural living. There seems to be a new urban/suburban condition that may be a potential quality for all inhabited spaces. This extended urban condition does not easily show up on maps. It is in many ways more of an urban/suburban state of mind than a topographic location.

This project, part of a larger ongoing work, conveys everyday North America, the place seen on the way to the office or the supermarket - viewing these familiar environments from an off-centre perspective, revealing the ambiguities and artifice of everyday life.

POLAND, Warsaw - Plac Mirowski (Photographer: Chris Tribble // www.ctribble.co.uk)
I've lived in Warsaw from 2002 (and before that from 1995-1998). The Hala Mirowska (Mirowska Market) is in the city centre and is where I go for fresh fruit and vegetables. It was the site of mass executions of Polish citizens during the Warsaw Uprising, and has since survived communist and capitalist reforms. On the market side of the road (Jana Pawla II - John Paul II Street) people are coping with the more obvious downsides of post-communist re-construction, although, being Polish, they continue to enjoy the good things of life (like dried mushrooms). On the other side of the road you find the beginnings of the new Warsaw downtown. There seem to be some contradictions.

USA, New Paltz, NY (Photographer: J.Gilbert Plantinga // http://www.gilplant.com)

I made these pictures within a 50-yard radius of the corner of Church St. and Main in New Paltz, NY where I have been photographing almost daily since February 2003. The pictures are from an ongoing project concerning the daily life and the spirit of the village as one can see these on its streets and in its architecture and re-figure it in works of art

River Tawe - Wales (Photographer Patrick Ellis // www.patrickellisfeatures.com)

"For hundreds of years the River Tawe has exerted a powerful influence over the development of Swansea in South Wales . Now at the beginning of the 21st century the area to the east of the river mouth and adjacent to the Prince of Wales Dock, is being redeveloped as part of the SA1 project.  Photojournalist Patrick Ellis is working on 'From mariners to marinas' - a photo-document which looks at the new development and its results, the associated work and the traditional trades that continue to survive in the area through this period of change."