The very soul of this project is the combination of photos and information about what was photographed and who photographed it. To avoid that the images would not simply end up in yet another online database, we developed an easy, but effective system of categories and subcategories. The long-time vision of the project is that the photos with the added information will prove a resource for researchers today and to future generations who want to investigate what daily life was like in 2012.
Main categories
The project participants were asked to reflect on and shoot photos connected to three main categories: Home, Work and Connections. It was up to the participants to interpret the categories and choose which category best represented their photos. It turned out that the submissions were divided equally among the three categories.
Home: Photos related to where and how we live.
Work: Photos related to where and how we work.
Connections: Photos related to everything that connects us to each other like community, technology, family, energy, faith, cultures, politics and lifestyle.
Subcategories
Each main category acts as an umbrella for a series of more detailed subcategories. Some are straightforward and concrete, while others opened up for the participants to make personal interpretations. Some of the subcategories can be explored in context in the Selections [link].
Home: Room, Food, My wall, My view, Treasure, Junk, Housing and Surroundings
Work: Tools, Teams, Commute, My job, Power, Purpose, Unemployment
Connections: Generations, Community, Technology, Leisure, Identity, Society, Energy, Conflict, Care, Fear, Elements and Nature
Other data
Each photo also contains information on were the photo was taken and what kind of camera was used (digital, mobile or analogue). Only one per cent of the photos were taken with an analogue camera, 20 per cent were taken with a mobile phone and the remaining 79 per cent were shot with a digital camera.
The photographers
In addition to adding information about the photos, the participants were also asked to add data about themselves: Age, gender, home country and an estimate of how often they use to take photos. From this information we can read that more than 52% of the participants were women, which is highly unusual for a global photography project.
