When junior photojournalism major Dave Foster stayed up for 46 consecutive hours last September, it wasn't so he could finish a class project or put together a last-minute group presentation.

He was one of 35 photographers who participated in Kent State's first-ever "24 Hours in Portage County" photo shoot, in which Kent students and alumni spent an entire day and night shooting various people and places in Kent and its surrounding cities.

While the shoot was often grueling - kicking off in the wee hours of the morning and continuing all throughout the rest of the following afternoon - the vice president of the National Press Photographers Association's Kent chapter said he only nodded off once.

"I feel asleep in front of Gloria's (Koffee N' Kakes)," he recalled with a laugh. "But I was awake 24 hours previous to that."

The event's concept was suggested by Emily Rasinski, former assistant photo editor for the Daily Kent Stater, who participated in a similar shoot for The Lima News last summer, Foster said.

After the professional success of "24 Hours" and an eight-page special section in the Stater, Foster then brought the idea of a gallery showing to Jeff Ingram, executive director of the Standing Rock North Water Street Gallery in Kent. Ingram said he was very receptive to the idea of bringing the first-ever full photo exhibition to the downtown venue.

"I thought it was a nice slice of life idea," he said. "(I)t's trying to capture what is in people's lives that makes them important."

Rami Daud, senior photojournalism major and president of the Kent NPPA, helped Foster arrange and organize photos for the gallery over Christmas break, but said it wasn't easy.