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The Polaroid Project

4/28/79                                                             Jamie Livingston
This story resembles in many ways that of Finding Vivian Maier (http://somanyinterestingthings.blogspot.com/2014/12/finding-talent-and-mystery.html) in that we follow, here in a 2008 Mental Floss article, the circuitous route by which a writer/blogger, Chris Higgins, discovers the identity of the man who took the photos posted on what was then an anonymous website. In a time long before Instagram or Facebook or even blogs, a college student named Jamie Livingston (1956-1997) started taking a Polaroid picture a day, images from his life. Unlike Maier's photographs, these are not particularly artistic or interesting in and of themselves, though they do get much better over time, perhaps as he becomes more invested in this as a long-term project. What makes each compelling is its role in the totality and in the chronicle of the last 18 years of a man's life (story, link to photos website, updates): http://mentalfloss.com/article/18692/he-took-polaroid-every-day-until-day-he-died

8/20/92                                                           Jamie Livingston
   Adding both dimension and connection, the man in the picture here recently added a couple of comments explaining his relationship to Livingston, the circumstances in which the photo was taken (a celebration of his 30th birthday), and a brief update on his life since. I find myself wishing more subjects would do the same: http://photooftheday.hughcrawford.com/08-20-92

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