Listening to:
"Alone" (acoustic) -Ben Harper
Hey all! Long time no see...erm read?
I've been a bit busy. That's as good of an excuse as I can come up with (sorry).
In the past two weeks I have had three friends write me & tell me they are trying to start their own blogs...if that isn't the universe telling me to get back on the ball I don't know what it is ;)
That said...
Recently an extremely talented photographer (Joshua Cole) tweeted about a blog and how amazing it was. Being the curious ( *cough* nosy *cough*) person that I am...I had to check it out! What I saw really blew my mind.
The blog was about a random man. Just like any other man...only not.
This man took a polaroid photo every day of his life.
Sometimes his photos were obscure, artistic. I was captivated...
The photos go on... he took an astronomical amount...
You always hear people say, " a picture is worth a thousand words". It's true. You can learn so much about someone from their photos.
Throughout the trail you see how he is a musician, all the good times he has with his friends, the successes he has with independent film....they are timelessly captured on little squares.
On May 2, 2007 something bad has happened.
Two days later we learn it is cancer.
Can you imagine?
There is something about watching a complete stranger's life through his own photos that is so...intimate.
On October 5, 1997 the photographer's intentions are clear...
Two days later they are married...
A few weeks later finds our guy in the hospital once again, October 24, 1997.
The next day our photographer dies.
The artsy photos that captured my eye ended so close to home for me. I'm not sure why, maybe it was his love of photography. Maybe it was his polaroid fixation? Maybe it was seeing him go through the ups and downs through his very own eyes?
Who was this man? We know he played the accordion, he laughed, he loved...
His name was Jamie Livingston. He took a polaroid picture everyday for 18 years...until October 25, 1997 when he died at the age of 41.
He called the project "Photo of the Day"..it was his passion.
He used a Polaroid SX-70..it was his tool.
He used his vision...it is his legacy.
I remember sitting there after spending hours going through the complete collection of photos just being stricken. A man who only spent 17 days married to the woman he loved & only 41 years on this earth, but he left the world 6,697 polaroid pictures to remember him by.
So dear readers my question to you today is this...
What will you leave behind?
Will you have enough laughs? Will you spend more than 17 days with the one you love? Will you waste your days (which may be few) in misery...or will you leave behind more?
The choice is yours.
Signing out,
Your Fervent Free Spirit
XOXO
** You can view the entire collection at http://photooftheday.hughcrawford.com/ ....I really recommend it.
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