Ways of Seeing: The Growth of the Everyday Everywhere Movement

4 minute read

Whether through digital channels, print or on exhibit, the impact, influence and reach of the still image has never been greater. But with so many images fighting for our attention, how do photographers make work that most effectively stands out and connects with an audience. In this seven-part series, TIME looks back over the past 12 months to identify some of the ways of seeing—whether conceptually, aesthetically or through dissemination—that have grabbed our attention and been influential in maintaining photography’s relevance in an ever shifting environment, media landscape, and culture now ruled by images.

Everyday Everywhere

There is little doubt that when Everyday Africa was launched by photographer Peter DiCampo and writer Austin Merrill in 2012, it offered a welcome and refreshingly positive take on a continent that was so often portrayed through strife, turmoil, war and famine. The project—made with smartphones and disseminated through social media platforms including Tumblr and Instagram—concentrated on showing the mundane and incidental aspects of everyday life to reveal a side of Africa that was often overlooked. Everyday Africa’s subsequent expansion from its two founder members to a wider network of contributing photographers established the model that this year became a franchise and spread Everyday’s reach across the globe, from Everyday Asia and Everyday Latin America to Everyday Bronx.

One of the most interesting developments came when David Guttenfelder (TIME’s Instagram Photographer of the Year 2013), Matt Black (TIME’s Instagram Photographer of the Year 2014) and a collective of talented documentary photographers—and equally innovative Instagram users—launched Everyday USA, not only to record offbeat moments but to bring awareness to off-the-radar issues here at home. This year, TIME gave the group its first commission for #TIMEvets, a multi-platform project coinciding with Veterans Day. Alongside Everyday USA, Guttenfelder somehow found time in his busy newfound freelance career (this year, he parted ways with the Associated Press after 20 years) to initiate Everyday DPRK to continue his work from inside North Korea through the lenses of the country’s homegrown photographic talent.

Over the past two years, DiCampo has helped guide photographers interested in developing their own outshoots – with Everyday Asia and Everyday Latin America drawing on his input to shape their message. And this year, the Everyday project matured when the “owners” of some of the most successful Everyday accounts met for the first time in New York to coincide with an exhibition of their work. “I think we have a voice to talk about what cell phone photography is and to try, in some way, to lead the discussion on rights, usage and [the like],” DiCampo told TIME in September last year. The meeting resulted in the creation of the Everyday Everywhere project, which has the ambitious goal of changing “the way we see the world”.

While 2014 saw the explosion in the number of Everyday feeds on Instagram, 2015 could be a make-or-break year for many of them. The original purpose of Everyday Africa was to combat the stereotypical imagery that emerged from the continent. There are other places that could benefit from a similar approach, but only the most rigorous of practitioners – with well thought-out plans – will be able to sustain their followers’ interest in the long-run. The risk is that the multiplication of such feeds – Everyday Climate Change launched on Jan. 1 with a staggering number of participating photographers – will dilute their importance, bringing to an end one of the most interesting photographic experiments we’ve seen in years.

Read Part 1 – Direct to Audience.

Read Part 2 – Documentary Still Life.

Read Part 3 – The Portrait Series.

Read Part 4 – The Contemporary Photo Essay.

Read Part 5 – From Stills to Motion.

Read Part 6 – Books Within Books.

Phil Bicker is a Senior Photo Editor at TIME.

Olivier Laurent is the editor of TIME LightBox. Follow him onTwitter and Instagram @olivierclaurent

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everydayusa Patriotic cookie cutters. @dguttenfelder David Guttenfelder
everydayusa On my way home from visiting a friend I passed by The Crosses of Lafayette, a memorial to fallen troops, on a hillside above Highway 24 in #Lafayette #California #USA The Lafayette Hillside Memorial is believed to be the biggest memorial of its kind in the nation for those killed in the two post-9/11 wars. The collection of crosses is accompanied by a large sign showing the count of American soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. This weekend the number read: 6837 On a flyer from the site, I found a quote by Mary Tillman, mother of Corp. Patrick Tillman who was killed in Afghanistan, the most moving - “These crosses behind us, in their primitive form which I think is actually very appropriate, could be soldiers from any time. But they represent contemporary soldiers that all wanted to serve.... Unfortunately our soldiers, once they enlist, once the tide turns, once the situation is not what they thought, is not what we thought, they – unlike us – lose their voices. We then become their voices." Photo by @balazsgardiBalazs Gardi
The Geography of Poverty - Homeless camp, Stockton, CA. Stockton is a city in San Joaquin County, California. The population was 291,707 at the 2010 census. Residents have a $19,906 per capita income and 24.3% live below the poverty level. In June, 2012, the City of Stockton filed for bankruptcy , which at the time made it the largest US city to have sought protection from creditors. That same year, the city had 71 murders, giving it the nation's highest per capita homicide rate. #geographyofpoverty 36°12'28"N 119°20'49"W www.geographyofpoverty.com
everydayusa The Geography of Poverty - Homeless camp, Stockton, CA. Stockton is a city in San Joaquin County, California. The population was 291,707 at the 2010 census. Residents have a $19,906 per capita income and 24.3% live below the poverty level. In June, 2012, the City of Stockton filed for bankruptcy , which at the time made it the largest US city to have sought protection from creditors. That same year, the city had 71 murders, giving it the nation's highest per capita homicide rate. #geographyofpoverty 36°12'28"N 119°20'49"W @mattblack_blackmatt Matt Black
everydayusa Fall reflections in NYC… @markpetersonpixs -@reduxpictures Mark Peterson
everydayusa At first glance I thought it was a real bear. @malinfezehaiMalin Fezehai
everydaydprk North Korean children practice for a performance at the Kaesong Schoolchildren's Palace. So-called Schoolchildren's Palaces in North Korea are centers of art and performance where talented kids in each city go after school to work on dance, music, martial arts, calligraphy, and so on.@SIMONKORYO
everydaydprk A woman's traditional dress billows in the strong breeze on top of Juche Tower in Pyongyang.@SUNBIMARI
Processed with VSCOcam with m2 preset
everydaydprk A North Korean woman pushes her bicycle along the railroad tracks on a rural road in the Mount Kumgang area.@DREWKELLY
everydaydprk Pyongyang traffic police, with attitude.@andrea_uri
everydaydprk Women and guns -- at the Meari Shooting Range in Pyongyang, North Korea.@andrea_uri
A bride gets her photo taken at the Nongkhai province aquarium in Thailand.photo by Pailin Wedel (@pailiner)
everydayasia A bride gets her photo taken at the Nongkhai province aquarium in Thailand. photo by Pailin Wedel (@pailiner)Pailin Wedel
In this image, taken on Thonglor Soi (alley) 13, several girls are spending their evening at Scenespace, a collection of bars and restaurants with outdoor seating that is popular almost every night of the week. Thonglor is one of Bangkok's most hip streets, catering mostly to wealthy 20 and 30 somethings. You won't find drunk backpackers here and it remains relatively free of the prostitution and sex clubs - at least openly - that Bangkok has long been famous for but that really only represent small sections of an otherwise interesting and fascinating city.Photo by @amcaptures (andre malerba)
everydayasia In this image, taken on Thonglor Soi (alley) 13, several girls are spending their evening at Scenespace, a collection of bars and restaurants with outdoor seating that is popular almost every night of the week. Thonglor is one of Bangkok's most hip streets, catering mostly to wealthy 20 and 30 somethings. You won't find drunk backpackers here and it remains relatively free of the prostitution and sex clubs - at least openly - that Bangkok has long been famous for but that really only represent small sections of an otherwise interesting and fascinating city. Photo by @amcaptures (andre malerba)Andre Malerba
There probably isn't a person who comes to Band-e-Amir in Bamiyan Province that doesn't take this photograph. These paddle boats, rented for $6 (USD) as a foreigner and $3 as a local. The lake that they float on is an incredible azure blue- a color that seems completely incongruous in the windswept, high desert landscape. Taken in Bamiyan, AfganistanPhoto by Andrew Quilty/Oculi (@andrewquilty)
everydayasia There probably isn't a person who comes to Band-e-Amir in Bamiyan Province that doesn't take this photograph. These paddle boats, rented for $6 (USD) as a foreigner and $3 as a local. The lake that they float on is an incredible azure blue- a color that seems completely incongruous in the windswept, high desert landscape. Taken in Bamiyan, Afganistan Photo by Andrew Quilty/Oculi (@andrewquilty)@andrewquilty
Dead lotus
everydayasia Dead-lotuses on a lake in western Hanoi, Vietnam, a tell tale sign that autumn is ending and winter is coming. Photo By Hai Thanh (@haithanhptw)Hai Thanh
A girl looks out of a taxi window in Mumbai, India in August of 2014 during one of the seasonal monsoons. Photo by Asmita Parelkar (@asmitaparelkar)
everydayasia A girl looks out of a taxi window in Mumbai, India in August of 2014 during one of the seasonal monsoons. Photo by Asmita Parelkar (@asmitaparelkar)Asmita Parelkar

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