Click here to view a slide show of recession photographs taken by Slate readers. Click here to submit your own.
Last week, Slate launched “Shoot the Recession,” a project in which we asked our readers what the economic crisis looks like to them. The response on the photo-sharing site Flickr, where we set up a group page to collect your contributions, has been bullish. As of this writing, our Flickr pool is home to more than 160 pictures.
The photos represent a range of approaches to documenting the recession. Some readers turned their cameras on the downturn’s retail victims, like this Linens ‘n Things in South Portland, Maine, or this Woolworths in Brighton, England. Others focused on the housing crisis—on a cluster of unsold homes in Washington, D.C.; one up for auction in Lyndhurst, Ohio; or an unfinished one in Merced, Calif. Others captured the plight of Detroit—the city and its auto industry.
But it’s not all doom and gloom—several readers responded to our call for photos with good humor. The consoling power of beer—specifically cheap, domestic beer—has been a theme. Then there’s this shot of a Concord, N.H., pottery store with a clever name its proprietor probably now regrets. Restaurants across the United States appear to be embracing the “recession special,” and thrifty Slate readers have found some steals: free biscotti with any latte in Chicago, a 99-cent lunch in New Orleans.
Click the launch module above to view a slide show of the most arresting images Slate readers have submitted thus far. Click here to see all the shots in Slate’s “Shoot the Recession” photo group on Flickr. And most important: Keep the photos coming. As we receive more images, we’ll put together more galleries like this one and publish them on Slate.
Questions about the project? E-mail slate.flickr@gmail.com.
