I’ve decided on a little bit of a whim to take part in Week in the Life this year. It’s a great way of documenting daily life. It kicks off tomorrow – Monday 7th May. I have taken part previously and whilst it’s a demanding project I have found it hugely worthwhile.
What is Week in the Life?
It was started by Ali Edwards. Ali is a graphic designer and scrapbooker – she started the Week in the Life (WITL) project way back in 2005. You can learn more about the project over on her website.
It’s a documentation project to capture the mundane and the everyday routines (that feel so normal now but they won’t be the same forever). Ali usually turns her project into a scrapbook (there’s more about this on her website). But you don’t have to be a scrapbooker to take part in this project. It really can be adapted for anyone. The key parts are to take photos and take notes as you go about your normal daily life over the course of the week.
My Previous Week in the Life Projects
I first took part in the project in July 2011. We were living in Palmerston North in New Zealand and my little boy was 11 months old. I was working part time and blogging. I turned the photos and notes into a scrapbook album. It’s ended up being one of my favourite photo albums as it really does feel like a complete snapshot of our lives at the time.
My second time was April last year. We were back in the UK (10 months in) and my son was 6 years old. I took photos and shared a few to my personal IG each day. I took lots of notes. And afterwards I turned the photos into a photo-book. I meant to add notes by hand to the book once it arrived but haven’t got round to it yet! It’s still a great snapshot and maybe I’ll add notes one day!
My Plans for Documenting Daily Life This Year
I am intending to take photos and keep notes each day. After 2 previous rounds I know the number of photos I take each day will steadily decline as the week goes on! I will share a couple of photos each day on Instagram and I’ll do a few blog posts over the week to share photos and notes from each day. Once the week is done I will look at creating a photo-book so we have something we can hold in our hands.
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Have you heard of Week in the Life before? Or participated? Documenting daily life is a great way to find gratitude in the current daily routines and also helps find the good everyday.
Let me know if you’re joining in this year!
This sounds really interesting and fun!! I am reading it a bit late. Might try and do it! Will enjoy seeing your every day adventures!! 🤗
I hope you enjoy it if you do join in 🙂 She also does a couple of Day in the Life’s throughout the year as well. You can do them anytime but I like playing along when there’s other people having a go too! I’ll post some updates every couple of days! Thanks for the comment Allison!