Today going through Digg I came upon a true story that surpasses all fiction - the story of an american filmmaker and musician Jamie Livingston that took a polaroid every day for 18 years, until the very day of his death.
I read the article by Chris Higgins for Mental Floss, here are some passages:
Yesterday I came across a slightly mysterious website — a collection of Polaroids, one per day, from March 31, 1979 through October 25, 1997. There’s no author listed, no contact info, and no other indication as to where these came from. So, naturally, I started looking through the photos. I was stunned by what I found.
In 1979 the photos start casually, with pictures of friends, picnics, dinners, and so on. (…)
What started for me as an amusing collection of photos — who takes photos every day for eighteen years? — ended with a shock. Who was this man? How did his photos end up on the web? I went on a two-day hunt, examined the source code of the website, and tried various Google tricks.
(…)
To read the full article and see the polaroids, please go here.
He certainly captured many moments, but frankly I believe the need to photograph everything the passes in front of the shutter, is somewhat neurotic….isn’t it wonderful to just sit in the garden, daydreaming, and allowing the film to pass in front of your eyes…your thoughts…? I can sometimes see things which happened in my childhood with vivid reality. Love & many wonderful moments to you all, Paul
I don’t think one pic per day is “neurotic”, Paul… ;)
But merely, as a testimony.
Jonas Mekas was a “neurotic”, and though he let a rare experimental chef d’oeuvre.
I like that way of thinking.
Still, why absolutely put a name on that experiment “Photo of the Day”? If the photographer wanted to keep anonymity, why breaking his will?
People need to put a face, though when evil’s face is in front, they even don’t recognize it.
Yes, one day I will stop to be affected by this behaviour. Sometimes I can’t but evaluate that day to another life. :)
Have all a good day.
Makes me think of Brooklyn Boogie,
great idea where’s my camera;)
happy chrismas
Love
Damien
This habit to keep records of your life this way is neither neurotic nor very amazing for me. It brought me to a very good idea - to do the same.
I failed in writing a diary, because I had not the dicipline to do it every day - but taking a foto every day is much easier to realize, especially with a digital camera.
What would be interesting to know, but is not said in this item, is for how long this man knew he had cancer. Maybe he knew it since 1979 and the idea to document his life was born out of the awareness he might die soon. In this case, he kept up for 18 years!
Good performance!
Maybe he managed it for so long because the fotos made plain to him the wonder of being alive.
I showed this article to 2 of my friends..
they had one thing to say..so sad..
but for some reason, I do not find it sad at all..
sure it is sad that he died..but won’t we all die?
I love what he did..for us looking at them, they might not mean much, just looking at pictures of a dead guy who for all we know, might have been a bit OCD …
but for the ppl he knew..for his friends, and family..it is such a great thing..
and one more reason why it isn’t sad..
here we are almost 11 years after he passed away, talking about him..
that is something
Who does this ?? WT
Blessings Tania
I wander…who are we to judge?
love
Agnieszka
Agnieszka,
I love your question! It is a judgment by itself… ;)
Absolutely, that’s why I did not, rather as I usually do, I generalized, which may also not be right ;), but these articles or stories are supposed to offer us food for thought….that’s it. Long live the story teller, Love Paul
Monika, I love the way you interpreted this, I’m sure your last sentence is especially true. Thank you.
Love, Paul
Wow, that’s truly amazing. So simple, so effective. The miracle of life.
And about the anonymity… I think its great that these photos are shared. In a way they remain anonyme, cos there’s no captions. This guy could be anyone, and that’s exactly what he is to people who don’t know him. The example photos (i haven’t yet checked the org. website) don’t reveal anything that people around him wouldn’t already know. There’s no secrets there, that one would think he would have liked to keep to himself. Also, its hard to think that someone spending 2 euros per polaroid every single day (yeh, the film is very expensive) wouldn’t like to put them in a use one day. Tho he seemed to be doing pretty well, so maybe it wasnt much to him.
I’ve been writing diaries since i learned to write. I would absolutely love it if someone maybe 100 years after I die, would publish them. The reason for why not sooner is that I don’t want to hurt anyone who is written about in those pages… But I feel that our stories are meant for sharing. I suppose taking photos would not oly be easier, but also more impersonal, so I’ll prob give that a go. One could think it’s being a copycat, but there’s zero chance my photos would tell the same story.
Thank you for sharing! I shall post a link to this site, too.
Just another note.. it’s a bit silly I mentioned the price of the polaroids… as if it would matter in the decision of publishing them! What I tried to imply with it is that polaroids, no matter what the content, always look cool and presentable because of the frame. The fact he chose polaroids suggests to me that he wanted to present them. And the photos are nicely taken too, so I’d surely like to show them off if i was him. :p
Dear Wanbliska
It is only then if..we..take it this way..:-)
it was..meant to be just a reflection..
love to you & all
Agnieszka
Ok… So you got mine! ;)
Love to you, also.