I Spent The Whole Day Photographing A Stranger Every 5 Minutes

In this project I am exploring the concept of time and creating an authentic window into the lives of Londoners.

Ten years ago, my dad introduced me to Lubischev, an extraordinary Soviet scientist who devised a time management system which has been a big part of my life ever since. During 50 years of his life, Lubischev devised an immaculate system whereby he kept a detailed record of everything he did, from work and recreation, to general life, admin and sleep. With every decade the scientist became more and more productive, using a spreadsheet to record how he spent his time down to 5 minute intervals.

Inspired by Lubischev and my personal time experiments, I am now creating a visual record of how people spend their time.

Often, we only see a filtered version of someone’s life through social media as people generally share the “best” parts of their life. The aim is to present an unfiltered “life in the day” for a variety of individuals, thus creating an authentic parallel to social media’s curated narratives.

This series reflects a day in the life of Nour, a journalism student on one of her days off. I followed her from the morning when she woke up, taking pictures at 5 minute intervals, leading up to her winding down in the evening.

The pictures displayed here reflect 30 minute intervals, taken at the 16 and 46 minutes past the hour. There are 101 pictures from the day, and you can view them all at: https://tepewehco.com/time-nour

The project is ongoing, and if you are interested in participating, please contact me though the website.

More info: tepewehco.com