In 2005, three friends, recent university graduates Rudy Adler, Victoria Criado and Brett Huneycutt decided they wanted to document life at the US-Mexico border, which an average of 3,000 people cross illegally every day. They handed out hundreds of disposable cameras to two groups of people who could give first-hand accounts: migrants risking their lives for relatively lucrative work in the US, and Americans who call themselves Minutemen, trying to stem that tide.

Both groups were asked to use up the film and then drop cameras into the mail - anonymously if they liked. Wal-Mart gift certificates and petrol cards were offered as incentives to take part in the project.