If you ever thought Charleston is a boring little town, your opinion may change after today.

Roughly 80 photographs were chosen from more than 250 submissions to be showcased for the Day in the Life of Charleston photo project.

Students and faculty of Eastern, residents of Charleston, professional and nonprofessional photographers were among all who participated throughout the day.

The photographs had to be taken within city limits and between 12:01 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 22.

Brian Poulter, a professor of journalism at Eastern, came up with the idea and quickly realized the amount of help he needed.

“No matter how good these guys are, there was just too much going on,” Poulter said.

Which is why he enlisted the help of the community and professional photographers Mark Hoffman from the Milwaukee Journal Sentential, Steven Haas from the Decatur Herald & Review and Jay Grabiec from the Center for Academic Technology (CATS).

“It was a chance to work one-on- one with professional photographers for my students, that was a big deal,” said Poulter.

Samantha Neal, a senior communication studies major, was able to work with Haas, who offered ideas and advice with framing photos while she was shooting at the Panther Paw.

Poulter said this project was a chance to get students off campus and to walk up to total strangers while asking ‘what is interesting about your life?’

The exhibit is located in the Doudna Fine Arts Center Concourse and will remain on display until Nov. 18.

Doudna does not regularly display art in the concourse; this is the first time art will be on display that is not in the foyer.

“The center is not just for students, is not just for faculty; it’s for the whole community,” Poulter. said

People will be able to view the photographs before and after shows, and during intermission.

Among the photographs chosen, one was taken using a camera phone.

“Some of the students had nice equipment, doesn’t mean you can make a nice photograph. Just because you have a nice car doesn’t mean you’re a race car driver,” Poulter said.

After the exhibit, the photographs will be placed in a time capsule.

“So someone is going to be able to look at them 50 or 100 years from now and go ‘wow this is what this looked like then,'” Poulter said.

Allison Twaits can be reached at 581-7942 or altwaits@eiu.edu .

Illustration by Amanda Limbach

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