Take out your cell phone. Is there a video camera built-in? Feel your pockets. Do you have a Flip camera handy? Capturing moving images – once a rarefied, deliberate practice – has become as easy as fishing in your pockets for a device and pointing the lens. With this in mind, the Dallas Video Festival and FrontRow are launching a new video competition called “The Texture of Dallas: A Hand-held View of the City.” The idea is simple: take out that camera in your pocket and turn it on your city. Show us what you think the “texture” of this place is. Here is Video Festival Director Bart Weiss explaining our vision for this project:

The word “texture” is deliberately ambiguous, and we are looking forward to seeing the varied interpretations you will give it. But to help jump-start the competition, jump for a sample video / first entry from FrontRow intern Will Arbery.

For more information on the project, including submission directions and deadlines, click here, or click on the sidebar button which will live on this site for the next few months. Voting will begin on DMagazine.com in September, and winners of the competition will have their videos screened at this year’s Dallas Video Festival. Thanks in advance for taking part. Happy shooting!