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What would you take from your burning house?
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When disasters like the fire in Colorado happen, many people start asking themselves, "What would I take, if I had only, say, 20 minutes to leave my house?"
Photographer Foster Huntington asked that question on his blog and responses poured in from around the world. They're now in his soon-to-be-released book "The Burning House."
"I've always been interested in how people's posessions and what they value kind of reflect their backgrounds and their personal priorities," Huntington said.
Listen to the audio above to hear what Huntington has to say about computers being a common choice among submissions and the debate between sentimental v. practical
We also asked all you listeners Foster's question on Twitter and our Facebook page. You can see responses in a Storify stream here.
I was obsessed with this question when I was in college. I would ask everyone what they would take. My answer was always some nonmaterial 'photos, art, inexpensive trinkets with sentimental value'...then my apartment building caught on fire. After smelling smoke, running to the roof to look around and seeing Fireman run into my lobby, I ran back to my apartment and grabbed a leather jacket (it was the 80s), stuffed my cat into an empty laundry bag and ran outside. So much for all those immaterial items that meant a lot to me...The moral of my story: What you say in moments of reflection do not always rise to the top in times of panic.
