"Diary of a one-off": the photographer sent 10 cameras around the world and was sent 10 thousand stories

In 2015, photographer and cameraman Jamaal Davies bought 10 disposable cameras and sent them to creative people from all over the world with a simple instruction — to shoot whatever you want, and then return the film to him. In three years he has received more than 10 thousand photos from DJs, musicians, photographers of different ages and from different cultures. All of them are published on the website "Diary of disposable" (Diary of disposables). "All these stories are special to me, each one is unique in its own way. I think about how I met these people or how I keep in touch with them. There's a story behind each set of photos, and that's fine," Davis says.

Source: Vice

In 2015, Davis lived with his aunt in Washington and worked at her gallery. At this time, he became very interested in photography, and was also cut off from family and friends. So he came up with the idea of the project: "I'm from West Africa, and I have relatives everywhere. I was wondering what my friends were doing. I worked in a gallery, they didn't pay me that much, and I remember how I got my first salary, bought ten cameras and sent them by mail. I was curious about what people around the world were doing."

The first cameras went to a couple of friends: one was a DJ and was going to New York University, the second worked in an art gallery in Chicago, the third lived in India, and the guy sent another camera home to Guyana. "I wanted to get in touch with people who like to travel. At first I wanted to go to all these places myself, but it turned out to be impossible. I thought that people might not understand what to do, so I packed the cameras and put labels with instructions on the bags."

"When I first received the film, I felt incomparable. I'm a photographer, and I know how to develop film. I was sitting in a dark room, this process is always terribly exciting — one of the five most enjoyable things in life. When I develop films of other people, it's like I'm living their lives, reliving their stories over the past seven days. The opportunity to relive these feelings and return the photos, as well as publish them, brings incredible emotions."

Davis didn't get too wild or provocative photos—only nude shots. There were also strange photos, but he takes it calmly, because everyone has a different lifestyle: "If this is what you shoot, if this is what your ordinary life consists of, then who am I to control it?"