A Peek into the Past Through the Lens of the Early iPhone’s Camera

Riley Walz has created a marvelous couch potato project that peeks into a different era of the iPhone and YouTube. The idea behind Walz’s project, which I stumbled upon thanks to a story written by Umar Shakir at The Verge, is simple. The project is called ‘IMG_0001,’ because, as Walz explains:

Between 2009 and 2012, iPhones had a built-in “Send to YouTube” button in the Photos app. Many of these uploads kept their default IMG_XXXX filenames, creating a time capsule of raw, unedited moments from random lives.

Walz was inspired by Ben Wallace to build a website around the videos after Wallace wrote about discovering these videos. Walz found over 5 million videos with the IMG_XXX title on YouTube, which now feed into the IMG_XXXX website where they can be randomly played.

When you need a break, visit Walz’s site and watch a few videos. Filmed with early iPhones and iPod Touches, the quality isn’t great, but there’s something about these snippets of everyday life that someone decided to upload that is mesmerizing to watch. Projects like this are what make the open web great.