Wednesday, June 3, 2009

18 Years and an Endless Amount of Photos

I'd like to introduce you to Jamie Livingston

When Jamie was a senior in college he became attached to his SX-70 Polaroid camera. He started to notice that oddly, he was only taking one picture a day. He decided to continue this for the rest of his life. These polaroids give us a narrative of his story, commemorate the friendships he forged along the way, and depict the evolution of the city around him. His story is told from the first picture all the way to the last picture; a self-portrait on his deathbed. He called this project, 'Photo of the Day' and it is immensely inspiring, to say the least.

You can browse through his every day here.
Here is a photo I chose from each year Jamie lugged his camera around:

1979 - The first photographed Christmas of his collection.
1980 - An early, already growing collection of his polaroids.
1981 - Strong ties to great friends that will last a lifetime. 
1982 - Daily rituals being immortalized.
1983 - Oops! Seems like he made mistakes too and missed a day in his collection.
1984 - A music lover, just like me.
1986 - I want one of these! Also seen in the Elephant Gun music video.
1987 - A fun day in the sun!
1988 - The year that I was born, his now ginormous collection, continually growing.
1989 - His collection has even included famous rock stars.
1990 - Family is the best medicine around!
1991 - A great, great portrait of a funny little kid.
1992 - Finding fun in the little things of everyday life.
1993 - An improv photo shoot!
1994 - Pills, pills, pills (one of many photographs he has taken of these).
1995 - A snowman on a snowy day.
1996 - Even in his last years he surrounded himself with his loving friends & family.
1997 - A self portrait on his death bed, the day he finally succumbed to cancer. 

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