NEW YORK NEW YORK – On a walk in the East Village today I ran across a bit of fence that had painted strips on it so that if you line them up just right it made the face of a man. On the way home a subway artist sketched the pretty young woman sitting across from me. That it. October 22. In a nutshell.
Day 1,833 of one picture every day for the rest of my life.
On this day five years ago (day 7): Bandon Beach OR.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – October 16, 2014 is the fifth anniversary of “One Photograph Every Day for the Rest of My Life.” 1,827 days. Without a miss. This is the first day of year six.
In documenting this long-term project online I’ve reached an audience that would have been impossible in a pre-digital era. I tweet images daily (the same ones that I post here). Woody’s Twitter feed. I passed a major milestone last week: more than 50,000 Twitter followers.
Needless to say I’ve learned a lot in five years. I’m working with an editor to explore threads looking to develop future shows. Over the next year I’ll begin selling prints of the most successful images.
On the first day of this project, October 16, 2009, I shot the Jean Dubuffet sculpture “Four Trees” at One Chase Manhattan Plaza. In retrospect the composition looks contrived (actually all compositions are contrived, aren’t they) but I’m stuck with this as image #1 forever. I went back and reviewed the 10/16/2009 shoot; the image that I posted was the only shot that I took of the Dubuffet (which is mad). Here’s a three frame stitch from the same day that I now find more interesting:
So let’s celebrate the anniversary with a gallery of what I found today on revisiting One Chase Manhattan Plaza (the Dubuffet is still there):
An Trinity Church:
On this day five years ago, day one, the ur-Dubuffet:
NEW YORK NEW YORK – I’ve been living with my new website look for a few days now. I like the way it runs on tablets and smartphones. I’m less enamored with the three column look that it presents on a computer. I’ll go back to the drawing board on this over the weekend.
Today I experimented with my Leica T (which has good live view and adapts well to Leica manual focus lenses). Today I shot out our window with a Leica R 280mm f4.0, a long lens that has remarkable charisma. Here you go.
Day 1,826 of one picture every day for the rest of my life.
Here’s the context of the above image.
On this day one year ago: Schloss Elmau
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Wow. The light here is just spectacular this time of year. I had a vey good day out with my Monochrom and some difficulty editing so here’s a sampling.
Day 1,820 of one photo every day for the rest of my life.
On this day four years ago (day 359): Basil gets into the picture.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – A quick note on equipment. Most of my work here is done with a Leica Monochrom, a classic Leica rangefinder camera that takes only black and white images. The lack of color information means that it produces roughly twice the resolution of normal digital camera – giving lovely, medium format film-like images. I shoot wide but most often keep a standard 50mm lens on the camera. I get wide by shooting multiple overlapping images and “stitching” them on a computer. Result is very large files that can be printed large. The large files and intense detail invest mundane subjects with an importance that is impossible to achieve with smaller files.
Today’s images is three frames stitched. I’ve taught myself how to stitch reliably without using a tripod.
Day 1,817 of one picture every day for the rest of my life.
On this day two years ago (day 1.087): Fall lack of color.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – A productive day of terrific light. I had a lot of trouble editing so I’m putting a bunch of images up.
Day 1,814 of one picture every day for the rest of my life.
On this day four years ago (day 353): Methodist Church South Britain CT.
Day 1,814 of one picture very day for the rest of my life.
NEW YORK NEW YORK – Day two of being sick as a dog. I managed to get out of the house today to the pharmacy to stock up on cold medication. My photo of the day was a quick shot of a news seller on Lexington Avenue, something that I ordinarily wouldn’t bother with but what else am I likely to see today?
Day 1,811 of one picture every day for the rest of my life.
On this day three years ago (day 715): United Healthcare.
