Young Man Portrait

Young Man Portrait. In 2000, the last year of the 20th Century, I decided to take a photo a day of my son (11 years old at the time). I thought that it would be a fun project with him but there might be some difficulties. Technically this meant shooting one image per day, using one roll of film per month and hoping that I didn’t make any mistakes along the way.  I also decided to shoot B&W film because I could handle the processing myself. The project started out simply – he’d stand against the same white wall everyday, with the date written on a piece of paper, and he’d make a silly face. Eventually I moved away from the wall and photographed him in different locations. As the year progressed I processed the film and put it into print file negative pages. At the end, I brought my “12 months” to a photo lab to make me 16×20 enlarged contact prints. They looked beautiful.
The following year – 2001 – was the start of the 21st Century and this time I photographed my daughter. The process and final product was the same but I shot color film instead. Then in 2005 I returned to the project shooting both my son and daughter together. This time I shot digital, which made it easier. The only difficult part was making sure that I didn’t forget to take a photo, but my kids would always remind me, “Dad, you didn’t take the photo of the day yet!” Digital also made it easier because I could shoot several images and pick the best one. The final product was different though, it was a book instead of a contact print..In 2000, the last year of the 20th Century, I decided to take a photo a day of my son (11 years old at the time). I thought that it would be a fun project with him but there might be some difficulties. Technically this meant shooting one image per day, using one roll of film per month and hoping that I didn’t make any mistakes along the way.  I also decided to shoot B&W film because I could handle the processing myself. The project started out simply – he’d stand against the same white wall everyday, with the date written on a piece of paper, and he’d make a silly face. Eventually I moved away from the wall and photographed him in different locations. As the year progressed I processed the film and put it into print file negative pages. At the end, I brought my “12 months” to a photo lab to make me 16×20 enlarged contact prints. They looked beautiful.
The following year – 2001 – was the start of the 21st Century and this time I photographed my daughter. The process and final product was the same but I shot color film instead. Then in 2005 I returned to the project shooting both my son and daughter together. This time I shot digital, which made it easier. The only difficult part was making sure that I didn’t forget to take a photo, but my kids would always remind me, “Dad, you didn’t take the photo of the day yet!” Digital also made it easier because I could shoot several images and pick the best one. The final product was different though, it was a book instead of a contact print.

Leave a Reply

Close Menu