Two years ago, a young man from Montreal went viral for documenting his life in daily selfies from the age of 12 to the age of 20.
Now, Hugo Cornellier, who will turn 22 later this month, has taken his ambitious project right to his wedding day for a new edition of his popular time-lapse video.
Back in 2008 Hugo saw Everyday, a seminal early YouTube video in which Noah Kalina photographed himself daily for six years.
Teenage time-lapse: Hugo Cornellier, 21, from Montreal, has released a video documenting almost ten years of his life
From that point on, Hugo set out to take an expressionless image of himself everyday – starting from long before the word selfie was a household term.
Back in 2015 – eight years into his selfie project – he told Daily Mail Online: ‘I’m going to keep taking the pictures as long as I’m physically capable.’
Hugo, who now studies computer science at Concordia University, said that after seeing the first 30 pictures in March 2008, he became obsessed by selfies and decided to continue the project through his entire life.
‘I would take my laptop everywhere my family went. Whether it was a holiday or to visit family for a few days, I always had to take my photo every single day, no matter what,’ he said.
Young-un: He said he used the same stony-faced expression in each photo so that the video would focus on the physical changes he was going through rather than mood swings
New looks: The video sees Cornellier experiment with his look, and go from being unable to grow a beard to being able to try out different facial hair styles
The current video – spanning from 2008 to August 2017, when he tied the knot – totals two and a half minutes and more than 2,500 selfies. Over the years he has updated his video occasionally.
‘It all started because my dad bought a time-lapse camera. I’d seen similar videos but I realized no one had done it to document their teenage years,’ he said.
He manually stabalized each image to match perfectly from one to the next, creating a hypnotic effect as Hugo’s face remains in the same position while his surroundings – and his hairs – change.
The video sees Cornellier experiment with styles over the last ten years
Making an appearance: In many of the later selfies, Hugo is joined by the woman who would eventually become his wife
Joining in: Sometimes she is kissing him on the cheek, or just lying next to him in bed
The big day: The current version of the video ends with Hugo’s August wedding day
Joining in: The clip has already been viewed more than half a million times
He went from being unable to grow a beard to being able to try out different facial hair styles
He said that he only missed around 50 days though the first seven years, but has unfortunately missed another 20 or so more since the end of last summer.
In many of the later selfies, Hugo’s now-wife became a regular addition – kissing him on the cheek, lying in the bed next to him, or simply mugging for the camera over his shoulder.
His latest video has already been viewed more than half a million times.