In a contemporary landscape where culture becomes increasingly commercialized and disposable by the day, we seek to create something lasting by using the most humble of tools—the disposable camera.
We believe that the medium of film remains the ideal mode for expressing these principles.
A few years ago, we started a project called Disposable. We were curious to see how people were living in places other than the places we normally see. We wanted to see what people were wearing, eating, and doing in their daily lives. Despite the fact that we didn’t have enough money to travel at the time we first started, we knew there must be another way to reach out. We then had the idea to send a disposable camera, an affordable way for individuals to document their lives and collaborate.
We sent our first disposable camera to an individual in Indonesia. The photos we received were so wonderfully unexpected: young people wearing colorful clothing, their environment, their joy. It made us realize that we must continue this project.
That simple concept became a weekly online publication and a seasonally printed magazine that features photography and stories reaching individuals from all around the world that have limited access to visibility. The Disposable Studio team now consists of 4 women. We’ve continued to expand over the years by sending more cameras, telling more stories, working to publish smaller themed issues, and creating bridges between us all.