People have tried to calculate how many photographs are now in existence — one estimate putting it at a mind-boggling 12.4 trillion — with the vast majority snapped since the invention of the smartphone.

I have 14,524 photographs on my phone. But that pales in comparison with Nicholas Cullinan, the director of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), who, as of last week, has 35,220. “I have all these family photos up until ten years ago, and then everything is on my phone,” he says.

How many thousands more will be created this summer? Trips to the seaside, city breaks, children and families gathered around a pool — all captured on 6in of glass. Squinting eyes, blurred bodies, smudged sun loungers — most, we already know,