Play

Hugo Cornellier started taking daily photographs of himself back when the concept of “selfie” didn’t even exist. Every single day, since February 2008.

Then 12 years old, Hugo had watched a seminal YouTube video named Everyday, which showed a time-lapse video of self-portraits taken by photographer Noah Kalina over six years. The Montreal, Canada resident decided to do the same, except, as he told Daily Mail in 2015, he was determined to keep taking the pictures as long as he was physically capable.

Since then, he has taken a selfie every single day, with the same expression on his face, and compiled the images – more than 2,500 – into a time-lapse video. The intriguing outcome (above) is remarkable as it shows him going through puberty, and several hair and facial hair-styles, to document the process of ageing and the passage of time.

And, most important, of the people and places that mattered to Hugo in this period.

The current video culminates on a special day, both for Hugo and his viewers – not only is he finally smiling in that picture, it also happened to be his wedding day, on August 31. If one looks carefully at the video, you can see his (now) wife, Juliana, consistently showing up in his later pictures, leading up to the wedding. He annually posts similar videos on his YouTube channel.