Dial-Up Photography,
From Your Cell Phone

On a recent photo shoot, professional photographer and Westville mother of three JoAnne Wilcox gave the thumbs up from the rear cockpit of an M 26 training and aerobatic airplane seconds before taking off to do some aerial photography.

These days, Wilcox is flying by the seat of her pants as she pilots an unusual art exhibit that incorporates three of her favorite activities: community-building, taking pictures, and spending time with her family at her beloved Donald Mitchell Library.

Wilcox has invited the community at large to participate in a photographic art project in which SLR and other high-end cameras are set aside for the more accessible, if not ubiquitous, cell phone cameras. A ​“Call to Everyone,” a cell phone photography art show, will be held at the Donald Mitchell Library in Westville from April 2 – 30 and is already generating enthusiastic participation across New Haven, the continental United States, and as far away as Germany and Italy. (The opening is April 2 at 6 p.m.)

A unique aspect of the project is the incorporation of library ephemera: card catalog and date-due cards that have largely fallen into obsolescence but make for a great surface on which to print pictures. Photographs, when wedded to library media, make evocative graphic presentations that are rich in texture and color, suggesting visual qualities of 19th or early 20th century postcards in some cases. Others, depending on the way photos are cropped, display a more modernist sensibility. An artful nexus can be achieved when superimposed images, reflect or tie into card catalog content, though that is not a requirement, according to Wilcox.

Some card-photos will be displayed on walls, with many more returned to card catalog drawers to be viewed in their conventional or original manner; viewers will literally thumb through the art exhibit, adding an additional tactile experience. There is no limit to the number of possible show submissions, but Wilcox emphasized that pieces will not be returned. Their ​“best use” after the show is still under consideration.

Gregory James of Manhattan, who ventures to New Haven on business several times weekly, said he serendipitously encountered the flyer for the project at the public library and decided to participate. James said he was surprised to learn that with his purchase of a $9 cell phone, he also got a built-in camera. He was aware of the functional uses of the cell phone camera, but never thought of using the camera to record the wonders of his everyday environment. He likened his delight in discovering this new purpose, to the excitement he imagines people felt with the discovery of primitive, lensless, pinhole cameras to take pictures for the first time around 1850, even though the science informing the discovery had been known for centuries.

Taking cell phone photos is an ordinary enough experience and even with its limitations can yield gratifying results. The trick, admonished Wilcox, is to ​“take it with you”- the advice of many photography teachers who instruct students to always be within arms reach of their cameras. Bringing along a traditional camera with all the bells and whistles ​“is a commitment — but the cell phone is a habit” she observed. ​“Shoot the things that cause you to see, and I mean really see the world you walk through every day” advised Wilcox, who said that she has seen a steady improvement in her professional photography since increasing the number of photos she takes with her cell phone camera.

The project’s production process requires use of an online ​“Avery” template, home color printer, a little double-sided, removable Scotch tape, the library cards (which are available at the five New Haven public libraries) and ​“a little patience.” Step-by-step directions and contact information is available online, but the specifics are also being covered in several library workshops presented by Wilcox, the first of which was held on Feb. 13 at the Mitchell Library. Wilcox said her first workshop was well attended and drew from a broad age demographic that included teenagers, adults and even several 70-something year olds. The next workshop, which will focus on use of the printer, is scheduled for March 12 at the Ives Memorial Library (main branch) at 6 p.m. A third workshop, to be held at the Wilson Branch Library at 303 Washington Ave., is still in the planning stages.

Wilcox said she virtually raised her three children at the local library, which is also the source of a network of friends. Her husband, Matt Wilcox, who is the librarian for Yale’s School of Public Health, represents yet another tie to library culture.

Still, Wilcox sees some irony in her enthusiastic embrace of libraries today.

As a child, she said she had fear of the library and experienced great trepidation when passing the librarian: ​“I was sure she knew my complete list of overdue books — I was terrified.”

Though she still racks up overdue fines, the library remains one of her favorite places to spend time. She is passionate about sharing her love of libraries with a new generation and thrilled to be repurposing obsolete library artifacts. Through her merging of old ​“technologies” with new-and-emerging technologies, Wilcox pays homage to the spirit of inquiry as viewed through the cell phone camera lens, and delivers a world of possibilities that is accessible to everyone.