In September, we organised a Substack event where people shared photos from a day in their life. Participants from all over the world took part and produced a book showing that day to everyone.
The project came up after thinking that, in the age of AI, photography should be about documenting, more than pretty pictures. Humans can’t compete in the creation of realistic, nice photos that takes seconds to prompt at a generative AI system. But AI systems can’t tell you about their lives, can’t show you their environment, can’t testify of their lived life.
I floated the idea in one of my newsletters on Substack and a number of photographers thought it was a good idea and offered to take part. The project was born. After some organising and agreeing on dates, the event took place early September 2025.
Here is the book. 12 participants have submitted photos of their day taken the same week.
It was fascinating to see all these people living their day all over the world, from Europe to the US to South America, to Asia. It was like there was some link between everybody and although their environments were very different, they were all living fairly similar lives.
It was interesting to see how different photographers interpreted the remit in different ways. Some took photos of their activities, others of their environment, some of their location, and some of their pets.
Some provided less than 10 photos, some sent 50 and obviously had a lot to say and show.
I was surprised to see how the majority decided to go monochrome. It wasn’t required and hadn’t really been discussed. The constraints were very loose to allow everybody to participate any way they liked. It seems personal photos suit black and white.
Notice the number of cats in the photos. The world clearly needs more cats and photographers have them all.
When I was including the photos in the book, I noticed the occasional missed focus. And photos that were meant to look like they were taken in the heat of the moment, but when you looked closely would have required some setting up and preparation. Cheeky. It was an insight into their process and their little secret.
As a result of this book, I have the feeling of having glimpsed into the inner person of each participant. I don’t know most of them beyond a acquaintance on Substack. But I now have the feeling that they’ve opened their lives to me for just a moment and we’re no longer strangers.
It’s your turn now. Show us your lives. Who you really are and what interests you on a day-to-day basis.
#Photography #Personal #Opinion #DocumentYourLife