I had the pleasure of being the official HackISU photographer this year. Taking back the negative connotations to the word “hack”, a Hackathon event (such as HackISU) is an event where programmers come together for a “no-holds-barred” event to create new products. Divided into teams, each group starts on a brand-new software or hardware project, and after three days, participants are judged and awarded prizes.
I loved getting to be involved with documenting the hard work that went into every project at the hackathon. In many cases, people were so involved with their work that they didn’t even notice the photographer around them. Many of the participants slept on-site with sleeping bags or tents, and with food provided by Major League Hacking, people could spend all of their attention on perfecting their project.
I saw some amazing projects come out of this. One group created a cell phone app that scanned barcodes from items in your kitchen and automatically added them to a shopping list for the next time you went into the store. Another group used hand-movement recognition technology to create a program that allowed those who speak sign language to easily communicate with those that didn’t. Yet another group created a bicycle-rider jacket that used tension in the muscles to automatically blink brake lights on the back of the jacket to increase driver recognition of bicycles on the road (for example, when the bicyclist pulled the handlebar for the brakes, it would light up the brake lights on the jacket).
It was a pleasure to be a part of the HackISU team in journaling exactly what happened this year. It’s amazing what people can create when they’re passionate about something. Enjoy some of the photos from the event this year. Even more of examples of my Central Iowa event photography can be found in my event photography gallery.
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