Cory McLeod may only be 31 years old, but he has more memories to look back on than most. From the day he was born, the Dubai resident’s parents began taking a daily photo of him, a tradition that he has continued into his adult life.
The project started out as a product of its time, with pictures being taken on film cameras, printed out and organised into physical photo albums, filling shelves of his family home in Yorkshire, England.
“My dad Ian came up with the idea one evening. Obviously back then it was pre-internet and pre-digital, so he just wanted to do a flipbook, he thought he’d just do it for a couple of years, but once he got to two, three years in, he thought: ‘Well I can’t really stop now,' so he carried on,” McLeod, an event co-ordinator, tells The National.
But it was only when YouTube began rising in popularity, well over a decade after the project began, that Ian had the idea to share the photos with the world. The family chose the milestone of his 21st birthday to turn the photo collection into a YouTube video, which snowballed into a viral hit.
The six-minute video, simply titled 21 Years, was uploaded to the site in 2012, attracting attention from news sites around the world. It currently has 6.6. million views.
“We didn’t really know how it would go, we just pressed upload and within a few weeks, it went viral,” he says. “We spoke to our local and national papers, and then people in the US wanted to speak to us, too."
“It was amazing to see how interested people were, when I was younger, people didn’t really understand,” he continues. “I could be on school trips and he’d have to ask teachers to take a photo, even my mum didn’t really understand at times. As far as we know, we are the only people to have done this from birth.”
Through university, travelling and moving to Dubai, McLeod decided to continue the project himself, taking daily selfies on his phone instead of posing for his father. To mark his 30th birthday, McLeod decided to create an updated version of the video, which took a year to make, this time using technology to line the 11,322 photos up better.
Two minutes extend the video and flash through his twenties, marking some important milestones — from his move to the UAE to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic — visible through several photos featuring him wearing a facemask.
As well as updating the recently released video, McLeod has also written a book to accompany it entitled 30 Years: A Life Lived Every Day, set for release later this year.
“Thirty just felt like the next milestone,” he says. “I had the idea to write a book to go with the video, because you see all these photos but you don’t really see what’s going on in the background or get the full story. It ended up taking two and a half years to put together.
“I think people might see the book and think it’s a nice story, but it also covers some dark periods of my life — being bullied, relationships, anxiety, starting my own business — there’s a lot in there.”
Naturally, there have been plenty of times when McLeod didn’t feel like taking the photo, especially during what he describes as some “rough teenage years”, but he now appreciates how unique the project is.
“It’s such a cool thing, there are so many things that I would have otherwise forgotten about — trips with my parents, things that are hidden in the background of the pictures,” he says. "It's a really special project to have as a family."
And he doesn’t plan on stopping at 30.
“I’m going to have to just do it all the way now aren’t I?” he laughs. “It would be pretty cool to see someone’s whole life.”
30 Years: A Life Lived Every Day is available to pre-order at jmdmedia.co.uk/products/30-years-a-life-lived-every-day
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Biography
Favourite Meal: Chicken Caesar salad
Hobbies: Travelling, going to the gym
Inspiration: Father, who was a captain in the UAE army
Favourite read: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Favourite film: The Founder, about the establishment of McDonald's
MATCH INFO
UAE Division 1
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 12-24 Abu Dhabi Saracens
Naga
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Company%20Profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EWomen%E2%80%99s%20race%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E1.%20Tigist%20Ketema%20(ETH)%202hrs%2016min%207sec%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Ruti%20Aga%20(ETH)%202%3A18%3A09%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%20Dera%20Dida%20(ETH)%202%3A19%3A29%0D%3Cbr%3EMen's%20race%3A%0D%3Cbr%3E1.%20Addisu%20Gobena%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A01%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Lemi%20Dumicha%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A20%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%20DejeneMegersa%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A42%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS
JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post
Local Reporting
Staff of The Baltimore Sun
National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
and
Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times
International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times
Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker
Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters
Feature Photography
Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press
Audio Reporting
Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”
LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
and
"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Black Panther
Dir: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o
Five stars
