Mert Alas’s The Quarantine Days Is the Crowdsourced Photography Project We Need Right Now

After receiving more than 2,000 images from around the globe, the hard work began. First step: selecting an edit of the very best. “I was looking for substance beyond self-love. We had to find a feeling here. I’d given them a little theme, told them to imagine a silent film or a mysterious dark romance,” says Alas, who encouraged his followers to think of the exercise like a movie instead of a selfie. “This isn’t about how pretty you are, it’s about how you can make a picture, star in it, do your fashion concept and lighting.” Once the selection was made, Alas painstakingly edited each shot the way he would an editorial. “As an artist, you grow to be subconsciously selfish about your work—you’re only as good as your last picture,” he says. “This time, it wasn’t about me or my audience. I wanted to take an amateur photo and do as much to it, put as much love into it as I can. [Adjusting] the tones, the colors, the crop, adding new layers, and just seeing what happens.”