Plain Can Be Lovely

I was (very unsurprisingly) listening to CBC Radio at work the other day when they re-ran an episode of Spark that featured the Polaroid a Day website. Apparantly many people have blogged about this, but it was the first I had heard of it (and the New York Times recently did a story on it as well!).

In 1979 a man named Jamie Livingston decided to take a polaroid a day (they weren’t always of him, and they were just things that would remind him of the moment the photo was taken, or the day, or just the general feeling I guess). He continued taking a polaroid a day until 1997 when he passed away from cancer. His friends Hugh Crawford and Betsy Reid, who were recently featured in his polaroids, have since taken digital versions of his polaroids and posted them online.

I find it both touching and fascinating to look at. You see a man go from one moment of life to the next…you see what he found important or interesting or what he wanted to remember.

Having just moved I didn’t bring any of my own photos with me (my friends nicknamed me papparazzi in grad school, so I do take a lot of photos!). I brought only the digital copies and spent the last weekend going through them all and choosing ones to print for the new house. It is funny how many things I would have forgotten about if not for my photos… For me it really does take me back to that moment.

I’m glad Jamie Livingston’s friends took the time to digitize his photos and share them with us. They have definitely touched my life and he will not be forgotten. Go check it out!

Two self-portraits by Jamie Livingston taken, from left, on May, 5, 1989, and Halloween, 1979. Photos by Jamie Livingston, Courtesy: New York Times