I stumbled upon The Faces of Bellingham whilst cruising through some blogs, and I gotta say this is a message that resonates with me. Lea Kelley snaps portraits of the everyday people in her town of Bellingham and posts them on this site. She encourages folks to search the site for their photos and comment on themselves, thus creating a bit of “celebrity” for those who would otherwise never have it.

On the site she states “Everyone is a somebody”:

This community art project reflects a culture in which we are obsessed with celebrities…We all want what celebrities have. We want recognition for who we are and acknowledgment for the things we do. Each individual has the ability to contribute to our society by way of our talents, personalities, skills, and participation…our community would not be what it is without every one of us.

When scrolling through the photos I wasn’t prepared for how truly beautiful these people are. Kelley captures the majority of her subjects posing and smiling, but a few photos are more candid or their subjects seem pensive.

I can’t decide which I like better.

What I love about this project is that it speaks to the need in humans for some kind of recognition or attention, all while satisfying our voyeuristic tendencies. I find myself wanting details about these people. My only criticism is I would like to see more comments on the photos by the subjects themselves, perhaps collected from them by Kelley when the photo is taken. It would add more depth and would fully realize her project statement.