Photographer Michael Chapman on His Project 'Show Up'
I was curious what would happen if I just tweeted a location and show up with my camera. Who's going to go to something like that? Is it just going to be a collection of my online chums?
So was born Show Up, my latest photography project, blurring the lines between a flash mob and photo project.
I turn up at a location after releasing a rough location 2 weeks in advance. I give everyone two frames and see what happens, displaying the photos in the order the participants show up.
So far I've done two locations, London and Manchester. I'm planning to do one date a month with a grand final in September. It's about utilising Twitter to gather people in one place and then capturing the people - but also their interactions with each other during the process itself. I want to celebrate the wonderful connections Twitter has and can provide.
For me it's a blurring of online and off, something I explored with my Twitter Strangers project. We're constantly told that social networks are disconnecting us so I like to explore the connections. I attempt where possible to push these online interactions offline and to my benefit it mostly works. I've met some absolute wonder babes, I've found collaborations, inspiration, support, friends, fun and some really wonderful dogs.
I went into more detail on exploring people's connections with my last project Common Ground. This looked at exploring people who had already connected on twitter what their relationships where and how they first connected. Sadly it was harder to connect people with this project so I didn't get the turn out I wanted, especially following the success of Strangers.
So, looking ahead at Show Up for the coming months I'm planning to host another London date in an exciting venue. I won't give away too many details in case it doesn't happen but it's potentially very exciting! I'm hoping to also get to Brighton and Bristol - all the B's. I did want to do a Scottish date but money is against me.
So, if you're interested, keep an eye on my tweets and be prepared to show up. Everyone is welcome and the more people the better. Equally if you have a fun venue or want to collaborate please do get in touch, I'm super excited to see what we grow out of these projects.
The next Show Up is schedule for Sunday 21st May 13:00-15:00 in Brighton