Dawn of the 21st Century: The Millennium Photo Project

Dawn of the 21st Century is a phenomenal photographic expression of the 24 hours surrounding the change of the millennium. A tremendous project undertaken by one man(Alx Klive) and his volunteers to collect and cull the best of over a quarter of a million pictures taken by thousands of photographers as the millennium dawned over a year ago. The pictures, however, remain timeless and serve to remind us what a wonderful art photography is for capturing an eternal moment. I'm proud to have been chosen as one of the Millennium Photo Project photographers and hope that you enjoy the book as much as we enjoyed producing it.

I first heard about this project through a colleague in the publishing industry. Apparently this renegade group of people (from Toronto I think) put together this whole thing completely on their own, after everyone in the publishing industry turned them down. They went ahead with it anyway and organized the whole thing on the Internet using amateur and enthusiast photographers from around the world. I was skeptical of what the final quality would be like but decided to order one to see for myself. I have to say I was blown away when the book arrived in the post. The pictures are astounding and very very different from any photography book I've ever seen before. They are incredibly 'real' - that's the best way I can think of describing it. Lots of ordinary people getting ready to go out, meeting up with old friends, celebrating at home, praying and so on. Basically the book is a visual feast that focuses heavily on the human experience. It is simply fascinating to see how different people from all different cultures and backgrounds celebrated the same event. My favourite photo is of a Masai tribesman standing on the plains of Kenya, where the human species is thought to have first evolved. It is a stunning and poignant image that should perhaps have been considered for the cover. But that is only a very minor criticism of what is overall an astounding achievement. The top art book publishers in the world (Phaidon? Taschen?) would have been immensely proud to have put a book like this together. The fact that a bunch of amateurs did it on their own makes it all the more remarkable. Whoever in the publishing industry turned this project done must have been out of their minds. Kudos to the sheer guts of the people who went ahead and did it anyway! Bravo!

This tabletop style photo journal records how people around our globe celebrated the closing evening of 1999 and dawn of the 2000. I gave copies to all my children, close friends and relatives as a special keepsake. These copies will be passed from hand-to-hand, generation-to-generation. Buy a copy and incorporate your family's celebration photos of New Year's Eve 1999 to perserve your memories of how you celebrated this big event.

My copy recently arrived and I'm greatly impressed. I'd first heard of this book from its web site, but nothing seemed to be happening there so I'd assumed the project had failed. Suddenly, while searching for photography books, up it pops. I had to get a copy. It has a great range of photos which really capture the feel of a world in celebration. The range of people featured makes it great to pass from page to page and dip back into the new year

This collection of photographs is incredible. Every page portrays a slice of life during the 24 hours surrounding the Millennium New Year. From breathtaking photos of faraway lands to smile-making photos of everyday life, I was so amazed. No matter where you live you'll find a picture that reminds you of special times and memories or motivate you to plan that next trip or new experience. I highly recommend this book as a gift and of course, you need one for yourself.