Picturetown
May 13th, 2007
For my first two years of college it was a toss up between advertising and photography. My camera in college was a classic Nikon F. That tank of a camera sits on my shelf at BOF. After looking at Josh Hallett of hyku’s photography with his Nikon D 80, I had to visit the Nikon site to dream a bit. Surfing around the Nikon site I stumbled on a link to Picturetown. Picturetown is what Nikon has dubbed Georgetown, SC. Nikon had a brilliant idea, give 200 residents of one the most beautiful, historic coastal towns in South Carolina the D 40 camera. The photos and the story’s are awesome. I give Nikon a lot of credit for putting major resources into a project like this. One of the reason I love this idea is that Nikon lets the people and their images tell the story. Redeye and all. Picturetown says a lot about Nikon and the faith they have in their cameras and the power of an amateur’s photograph.
Other posts by Geno.
Mario Vellandi says:
Hi Geno,
May 14th, 2007 at 11:35 amI see you’ve picked up on this story as well. I’ve written up a little review on my blog.
This is an awesome microsite that deserves more visibility.
Geno says:
Mario great review. Nikon is pretty low key about Picturetown. I stumbled on it by accident. Glad I did.
May 14th, 2007 at 11:48 amMichael Rubin says:
Geno,
I actually saw an ad on TV for Picturetown last week, but only in passing as I TiVo’d through it. Out of sight, out of mind. Then I saw your post this morning and took a browse through Picturetown. Wow! What a beautiful, power-to-the-people kind of idea.
The site itself is beautifully well-designed, too, and definitely “WOM-optimized.” Every photo can be downloaded or forwarded to a friend.
But more importantly, normal everyday people are telling the story. Yes, the camera is part of the picture (pun unintended), but there’s certainly no “hard sell” going on. Nikon is letting their advocates do the work in a heartfelt, straightforward way. I love it!
By the way, here’s my favorite picture so far. It’s even become my desktop wallpaper.
https://stunningnikon.com/picturetown/interfaces/downloadPhoto.aspx?file=012_006_full.jpg
…Michael
May 16th, 2007 at 5:58 amDebbie says:
Michael,
That is a cool picture. Check out some of the photos taken by Daniel N. on that site. (Page 4 of the gallery.) He took some great nature shots that you would probably enjoy.
I lived in Georgetown for 22 years and the pictures are very real!
May 18th, 2007 at 11:32 am