Daily Polaroids Detail Last 18 Years of NYC Man's Life

by sweet east pearl | June 1, 2008 at 03:58 pm

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For 18 years Jamie Livingston kept a record of every day of his life, but this was no ordinary journal.

Livingston, a New York City-based cinematographer, amassed thousands of Polaroid photos, taken each day of his life during those years, and a collection of the photos has been posted online by friends for people to see and experience, according to a report by MyFOX National.

Many of the photos were of friends. The subject sometimes was as ordinary as a smile, a window or a household item. Another was taken on his wedding day.

Livingston's friend Risa Mickenberg told MyFOX National the photos are an essay on life.

"'Photo of the Day' is a work of light, color, laughter, pain, travel, beauty, wonton soup, afternoons, coffee, hanging out, love, life in its entirety," she said.

Livingston was born in New Jersey on Oct. 25, 1956, and died in New York City 41 years to the day in 1997.

In 1978 at Bard College he began to take photos with his Polaroid camera, according to MyFOX National. After a few weeks he realized he had taken almost an image a day. He then began to earnestly take one photo a day and continued the project until his death.

NEW YORK --
365 days a year for 18 years, Jamie Livingston took a Polaroid of his life. This collection of photos known as the "Photo of the Day" has been put on the Web by friends for people to see and experience.
Many times the photo was of friends. Sometimes it was a smile, a window or an old apartment. Or a photo of a Mets game. City scenes. Random household items.
The images captured by Livingston have been garnering a lot of attention online after an article appeared on MentalFloss.com. As of May 29, the article has received 8,801 Diggs on Digg.com.
On Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Louise Crawford, a friend of Livingston, chronicles how the "Photo of the Day" project was put into an exhibition, how the Web site happened, and now the attention it is getting.