London's shop fronts
As more and more of us take and share pictures of our lives and surroundings, it can become overwhelming to anyone trying to locate bodies of work that hang together, both in terms of style and content.
Many of us will only photograph a small patch - our home turf, if you like - but add all of these together and you have a comprehensive record of the start of the 21st Century, a of the modern age.
One documentary project I've been following for a while is the work of Emily Webber, who is .
The pictures are fairly simple, straight-on records of supermarkets, corner shops, discount outlets and even a massage parlour. They are unique shop fronts that are slowly disappearing.
Emily says: "It started with an interest in documenting the bits of London that I know, and more recently lead me to spreading further afield, although I still have a lot to cover."
Like many of us, Emily has to fit this project in around her work and now that she's covered her home patch and the area near her work, she spends time at weekends exploring new parts of London.
She says: "The shop fronts are a great indicator of an area, they tell the history, the prosperity and the ethnicity of a neighbourhood... these shop fronts reflect exactly what makes London so interesting."
The pictures are, for the most part, devoid of figures and yet full of the signs of city life: looking at them as a set, there is something about them that draws me in. I want to see more, even if it's just to prove that there are still shops out there beyond the usual suspects and coffee bars that seem to dominate every high street.
As Emily notes: "I am driven by wanting to capture as much of the London of the early 2000s before it disappears. I see the shops being revamped or closing regularly, sometimes before I manage to capture them."
Here you can see shops offering a mind-boggling array of goods and services, others with an inviting light drawing you in.
Individually, the pictures would be of interest, but no more than that; as a set, they are building up a valuable collection and I hope that Emily continues her quest to preserve these sights for future generations. It also shows that you don't have to travel to the other side of the planet to find a subject worthy of investigation.
You can keep up to date with Emily Webber's project on her website: .
I'd be keen to hear from anyone else who is working on photographic projects documenting their area: please use the comment box below.
UPDATE, 17:20: A few of you have been in touch and suggested a number of other projects on a similar theme:
Richard Gallon had a number of thoughts including .
, where they do at least have more sun.
Ross has pointed me towards , which is an ambitious project to collect a representative photograph of every square kilometre of Great Britain and Ireland. They are doing well with more than 1.3 million pictures so far!
Lasltly Sarah Thompson points out that photographer to photograph a number of shopkeepers.
I'm 
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