BOSTON - Long before they were called selfies, Karl Baden snapped a simple black and white photo of himself. Then he repeated it, every day, for the next three decades.

Baden's "Every Day" project officially turned 30 on Thursday and he said he has no intention of stopping. The stark contemplation on mortality and aging has prompted some to dub the Boston College professor the unwitting "father of the selfie".

The 64-year-old Cambridge resident grumbles at comparisons to the pouty face, self-congratulatory portraits that fill Instagram and Facebook. But he recognizes the ubiquity of the "selfie" - a word that didn't become widespread until this decade - has helped raise the profile of the project, which has been exhibited in art galleries in Boston, New York and elsewhere.