Who can remember each day of their life for 18 years? Perhaps none of us can, but somebody could, well that's if he was still alive.
I am talking about
Jamie Livingston (October 25, 1956 - October 25, 1997), who was a New York-based photographer, film-maker and circus performer. Between March 31, 1979 and October 25, 1997, the day of his death, he took a single picture nearly every day with a Polaroid SX-70camera.
After Livingston’s death, his friends Hugh Crawford and Betsy Reid put together a public exhibit and website using the photos and called it
PHOTO OF THE DAY: 1979-1997, 6,697 Polaroids, dated in sequence.
 |
| March 30th, 1991- his collection of photos inside suitcases |
The physical exhibit opened in 2007 at the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College (where Livingston started the series, as a student, way back when). The exhibit included rephotographs of every Polaroid and took up a 7 x 120 foot space, apparently the pictures that are just dates aren’t Polaroids — they’re placeholders for days when there was no photo, or the photo was lost.
I find this story amazing, how a single human being can record a life of 18th years to perhaps share it with the world, but life and God had other plans for him, so now, more than 10 years after his death we are here, still able to watch her every day for 18th via his own view of it.
If you would like to visit his website please
click here. I must advice you that this is not a sophisticated, modern looking site; full of links and gadget, there, you will only find a list by year and each one with a photo he took- but even this simplicity of website, to me each photo symbolizes a little piece of his soul that once walked on this earth and the way he saw his own life.
 |
| Jamie Livingston, RIP (Oct 25, 1959- Oct 25, 1997) |
