Paul lives at the end of our small, friendly cul-de sac. He's retired now, but for all his working life he was a documentary cinematographer. He continues to take photos and he teaches photography at night school. Hearing that I was a bit poorly and knowing of my photographic leanings, he dropped off a supermarket bag filled with some of his treasured photographic books to help me while away my days while I was parked in bed. They certainly did that. Two books in particular I found riveting .
Everyday is a book by Byron Wolfe, who is a teacher of photography, the author or co-author of 6 books and the recipient of numerous prestigious prizes. His work is in the permanent collections of 30+ museums and art galleries. Everyday was published in 2007 and is a photo journal of the year between his thirty fifth and thirty sixth birthdays. The book's 272 pages contain a single photograph taken on each day of the year. There is a short introduction and some acknowledgements, but otherwise the only text is the date for each picture and a title.
Wolfe's life is quite ordinary. He lives in Northern California with his wife and two small boys. He has a garden, some chickens and many pets. He teaches and he takes part in his local community. He's a superb photographer and some of the images are very beautiful, in the classical sense but many others, are more mundane. Each shot is well constructed but the subject matter is a record of the everyday activities of a small family and is filled with the things which command attention in an ordinary life: spilled meals, minor childhood accidents, pets, the budding of fruit trees, the weather, childhood games and so forth. In the early pages I was sometimes puzzled by the inclusion of some pictures, but as I moved through the book and the dynamics of Wolfe's life began to revel itself in the images, it all became more and more compelling. There were repeated themes and motifs. There was development as the year progressed, so a narrative line emerged which was entirely non verbal but subtle, nuanced and engaging.
In another place, Byron Wolfe says Photography could be defined as the act of distilling the whole of the world down into visual emblems –little parts that stand for the whole. But making effective emblems is hard to do for several reasons, not the least of which is that you’ve got to sift through the complexities of life to figure out what’s important, then use a complicated machine to make visible that which is often intangible.
In this book he makes visible something of the intangible reality of his life. It's a wonderful gift to us but of course renders him vulnerable. This is a kind of graphic autobiography in which he invites us into his life in all its ordinary beauty.
My friend Paul was also moved by this book, and last year emulated Byron Wolfe by carrying a camera everywhere and trying to take one compelling photo a day for a year. He completed the task and put his pictures into a scrapbook which is, as yet, unpublished. And this is the second compelling book in the stack he gave me.
So, of course, you know where this is going. I'm going to do it also, starting on Advent Sunday. I intend to post the pictures on here, and I'm thinking how to do that. A single image a day? A weekly post with 7 images? I'm excited. And apprehensive.
While pruning the plum tree I pause to watch you through the window, November 30, 2002. (c) Byron Wolfe. This is my personal favourite shot from the book.
My grandfather's favourite slipper, 29 July 2002. (c) Byron Wolfe
From our favourite tree, the weeping Santa Rosa, July 3, 2002. (c) Byron Wolfe
