In 2008, and Paul Elledge was looking for the right digital platform on which to engage. His representative, Candace Gelman, impressed on him the growing importance of social media as a way to connect with new and existing clients, but just as for many photographers, the idea of having to keep up with a blog on a regular basis did not appeal. Paul had a good following on Facebook, but Instagram did not yet exist. So he began keeping a daily diary with his iPhone, a visual exercise he maintains to this day. He created iPhone Once a Day, Everyday in 2011, where he maintains the entire series. He says it has become a way to visually capture and convey his current mood and helps him stay connected to all the reasons he got into the business of photography in the first place. It’s a visual shorthand for the what, where, and why of the everyday. It is an impressive record of the things he sees how he sees them, where he is, and where he has been. And clients love it.
The series also turned out to be a great way to create a dialogue with his audience and keep them engaged. Paul told us recently, “I’ll show up to a location, and the client will actually reference an image from the series. A client recently told me that she wanted the look and feel of iPhone Once a Day. She had seen the series and was willing to give me a lot of freedom in getting the job done. The overall look and feel of the work has become a descriptor of sorts.” Currently, clients want to capture the look and feel of something authentic and real, and over time Paul has amassed a body of work that is evidence he understands what his clients want and demonstrates how visually engaged he is. Who wouldn’t want to work with someone like that?
Paul has exhibited some of his iPhone Once a Day images at the following: