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Ink Interview: Nicola Warwick [DILO]
Daily Ink
Stored in: Interviews
Posted On: September 09 2006
By: Bryan Partington
Archival Photo
Known on flickr as vanillasky, Nicola Warwick is the founder of a very unique flickr group.
Each equinox and solstice, members of the 'A Day in the Life of" group go out and document, well, a day in their life! It's an interesting exercise in chronicling life's moments as they pass, if only for a day, and has resulted in some of the most 'human' portraits of daily lives you'll see on flickr.
It's something that most everyone on flickr should try, if only once.. revealing the obscure, forgotten aspects of one's own life and those of others.
How did you come up with the idea for "A Day in the Life Of.."?
I used to work in consultancy and we frequently did "a day in the life" with clients as part of the business analysis. One day when toying with an idea for a new flickr group, I thought "a day in the life" would be an interesting concept. It was something that all participants could easily do and it would be fascinating to see what people all over the world did on a specific day.
You only run DILOs four times each year. Why so infrequently? What are some of the challenges in running a group that is only active four times a year?
When I started the group I only expected there to be one DILO. I hadn't given any thought at all to where it might go in the future. After the initial DILO a number of people asked "What next?" so we discussed various options in the message threads and a suggestion was made to use the equinox and solstice days as our dates. Four times a year works well. After a DILO day people post photos up to a month later and we generally start chatting about a forthcoming DILO a month before. I think if we did more than four DILOs a year it could lose some of its charm and appeal. Group members are very enthusiastic about DILO days and having DILOs at regular intervals spaced throughout the year only seems to add to the enthusiasm.
What are some of the more interesting events that have coincided with DILO?
We've had lots of birthdays coinciding with DILO days, at least one wedding and a couple of babies born on DILO days. For the next DILO day in September we have quite a few people celebrating birthdays. The nice thing about DILO is that it's art in the making. And on such a huge, worldwide scale. The photos from one of the DILO days last year was made into a poster created by flickr member Jbum. It was a mosaic of tiny photos taken by the group members. It really is a work of art.
My days are generally pretty boring, is there anything i can do to make my submissions to you group more interesting? Is there an art to articulating the banal?
Strangely, boring can be good! The whole idea of the group is to capture the mundane as well as the more unusual. It's an exercise in documentary photography and sometimes lateral thinking! It encourages participants to look at their normal routine slightly differently. We often have a theme to the day. This has included doorways, taking photographs at a specific time of day, even squared circles (!). I'm always amazed to see how people make the routine elements of their day look beautiful, fascinating or intriguing. The art to a DILO day is making sure you have your camera with you, plenty of batteries and just be prolific with your photo taking!
What do you like most about flickr?
flickr has made me think more about my photography. There are so many great photographers on flickr, there's always a lot to learn from them and lots of inspiration to be found. Plus, joining the many and varied groups provides lots of ideas for new subjects to photograph. I think my photography has evolved since I joined flickr and my technical skills have improved. It's also a great forum for "meeting" like minded people who share a love of photography and, even though I've only met two fellow flickrites offline, I'm regularly in touch with a number of friends from my contact list via comments on photos and flickrmail.
Otherwise, in Interviews:
- Previously: Ink Interview: John Watson [fd]
- Next: Ink Interview: Antonio Rodriguez [tabblo]
Utata Ink is a daily publication edited by Bryan Partington (striatic). Photos used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and obtained via the flickr API unless otherwise noted. To make a contribution to Ink, please visit Ink Me.
