Faces in Places
Encyclopedia
Faces in Places is a photoblog
that features (as the author describes) photographs of face
s found in everyday places
. The featured photographs consist of inanimate objects that a viewer would perceive as representing a face. This perception is a type of pareidolia
- perceiving random stimuli as significant, or anthropomorphism
- people attributing human qualities to a non-human being or object.
It is one of a growing trend of comedy
photoblogs (such as I Can Has Cheezburger?
and Sleeveface
), where the content is created by an online community
.
group. The Flickr group is now the main source of images used on the blog. The blog continues to be updated daily.
newsletter, which led to an increased level of interest in the project from the blogosphere
, global newspaper and television press.
On Monday, January 7, 2008, the project won Yahoo!
Find of the Year 2007 in the Weird & Wonderful category.
, Hope For Children.
Photoblog
A photoblog is a form of photo sharing and publishing in the format of a blog. It differs from a blog through the predominant use of and focus on photographs rather than text...
that features (as the author describes) photographs of face
Face
The face is a central sense organ complex, for those animals that have one, normally on the ventral surface of the head, and can, depending on the definition in the human case, include the hair, forehead, eyebrow, eyelashes, eyes, nose, ears, cheeks, mouth, lips, philtrum, temple, teeth, skin, and...
s found in everyday places
Location (geography)
The terms location and place in geography are used to identify a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term 'location' generally implies a higher degree of can certainty than "place" which often has an ambiguous boundary relying more on human/social attributes of place identity...
. The featured photographs consist of inanimate objects that a viewer would perceive as representing a face. This perception is a type of pareidolia
Pareidolia
Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse...
- perceiving random stimuli as significant, or anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
- people attributing human qualities to a non-human being or object.
It is one of a growing trend of comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
photoblogs (such as I Can Has Cheezburger?
I Can Has Cheezburger?
I Can Has Cheezburger? is the name of a weblog featuring lolcats, which are pictures of cats or other animals with captions, paired for humor value. It was created in 2007 by Eric Nakagawa , a blogger from Hawaii and his girlfriend, Kari Unebasami...
and Sleeveface
Sleeveface
Sleeveface is an internet phenomenon wherein one or more persons obscure or augment body parts with record sleeve, causing an illusion. Sleeveface has become popular on social networking sites.The precise origin of the concept is unknown...
), where the content is created by an online community
Online community
An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted...
.
History
The Faces in Places blog was launched on Monday, April 23, 2007, with a photo of a crane that resembles a grasshopper. Prior to this, the editor had started to encourage people with a similar interest in anthropomorphic images to submit them to a FlickrFlickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
group. The Flickr group is now the main source of images used on the blog. The blog continues to be updated daily.
Notoriety
On September 21st, 2007, Faces in Places was featured in the b3taB3ta
B3ta is a high-profile British website, described as a "puerile digital arts community" by The Guardian. It was founded in 2001 by Rob Manuel, Denise Wilton and Cal Henderson....
newsletter, which led to an increased level of interest in the project from the blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
, global newspaper and television press.
On Monday, January 7, 2008, the project won Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
Find of the Year 2007 in the Weird & Wonderful category.
Book
In 2010, Ammonite Press published a book by the same name, compiled by Jody Smith. The book follows the blog and features photos of pareidolic "faces" in everyday places photographed by members of the Flickr group. Proceeds from the book raises money for the children's charityCharity (practice)
The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.- Etymology :The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".Originally in Latin the word caritas meant...
, Hope For Children.