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Democracy, artful photography at work in Philly polling places

It's a little bit cool, a little bit weird, but the varied polling places of Greater Philadelphia inspired photographer Ryan Donnell to create Behind the Curtain: The Philadelphia Polling Project, reports Wired.

The idea to record these unusual polling stations cropped up in 2006 in conversations between Donnell and his wife, who is the City Hall Reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News. They put the idea on ice for a couple of years while Donnell was getting out of the freelance game and building a commercial editorial photography business. When 2008 came around with its momentous sense of history, Donnell knew it was the right time.

"The Philadelphia Elections Board actually posts a list of all the polling stations and every place has a small description next to the address, such as 'Residence' or 'Storefront' or 'Water Department Laboratory,' says Donnell. "So I made a list of the weirdest sounding places, packed-up my Hassy, tripod and film in my car and basically just drove all over the city of Philadelphia for about 10 hours on Election Day. I've done that every election since November 2008."

Original source
: Wired
Read the full story here.

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