TikTok's version of the photo dump finds beauty in the mundane

Nearly a year ago, the audio "you have to start romanticizing your life / you have to start thinking of yourself as the main character" took hold of TikTok.

Amidst a global pandemic, romanticizing your life became a coping mechanism. Your daily sanity walk became an opportunity to admire small moments, like documenting the way the light fell on the pavement. Even though life is slowly returning to some sense of normalcy, TikTok users continue to find beauty in their everyday lives.

The latest trend sweeping the app? Posting all of the aesthetically mundane photos in their camera roll.

This trend, set to a remix of "Good Days" by SZA that overlays dialogue from HBO's Euphoria, is TikTok's version of a photo dump on Instagram — or an aesthetic photo set on Tumblr. The audio has nearly 80,000 videos under it, and these "pov" TikToks typically utilize a variety of text that all have the same message. Some examples include "pov you take pictures of everything because you find everything aesthetic" and "POV: you take pictures of everything because you like how it looks in your head."

The photos shared in these clips are both casual and beautiful. Think photos of light reflecting on walls, sunsets, flowers, delicious food, shy smiles, and friends laughing. One video posted by @tylerc.98 reads, "POV: u take pictures of beauty u find in everyday life," and shows images of a rainy day, the beach, and a man sitting in a grocery store.

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And it's resonating with TikTok users. A video posted by @ana.petrag — "POV: you take pictures of literally anything because you like how it looks in your head" — has accumulated over 620,000 views and over 200,000 likes. Comments like "if you don't romanticize your life who will?" and "i love how these are little moments rather than big events" speak to the simple appeal of this trend.

An example of the kinds of photos posted for this trend. Credit: Tiktok / ana.petrag This video has over 20,000 likes. Credit: tiktok / ana.petrag

Xavier Williams a 21-year-old model and content creator, posted three videos of this trend to his account @curlyfro.x. All three videos went viral. "If something looks beautiful to me, I’ll capture a quick image of it,” Williams told Mashable over text. With so many random photos on his camera roll, he took to TikTok to share them.

“It helps with memory creation, nostalgia, and romanticizing your life which is one of the dopest things you can do to enjoy your time on earth," added Williams.

Similar to Instagram photo dumps, this trend captures a collection of casual, random photos that are seemingly candid and mundane. As Instagram becomes more of a shopping app and less of a photo-sharing platform, TikTok has become another space to post images. But unlike Instagram, you aren’t limited to 10 photos. Users are now free to post a dizzying accumulation of everyday moments.

There's nothing novel about young people spilling their camera rolls online. In March 2021, a trend encouraged TikTokkers to post the last 10 photos they saved on their phones. It prioritized authenticity, with users posting photos of their homework, celebrities, and memes. Today's iteration allows you to curate an aesthetic while still showing just how messy and aimless life can be.

So take this as a hint to start appreciating the beauty of ordinary things.

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