A Life In Polaroid

A site that I read regularly posted a link to this site: Photo of the Day. At first glance it is a random collection of polaroids, in chronological order from 31st March, 1979 until 25th October, 1997. The site doesn't contain any information but you figure out pretty quickly that the images have all been taken by one guy who took a polaroid photo every day of his life until he died.

The images are ordinary to begin with, dinner with friends, card games, trips to watch baseball. Some are candid, some abstract, some incomprehensible.

As the years go by, the images begin to tell a story. This is a photographer, he works in the film industry... later he is photographed with various musical instruments.

The images speak of a happy life - dinners with friends, holidays, lying in the park on a sunny day. Ordinary things. Then in May 1996, one photo tells more than a thousands words:

And within six months, he has died.


The original site contains no information about the identity of the photographer, or indeed why he decided to chronicle his life in this way.

Another site explains that he is called Jamie Livingstone.

After he died, his friends Hugh Crawford and Betsy Reid put the polaroids together and exhibited them in an exhibition called PHOTO OF THE DAY: 1979-1997, 6,697 Polaroids, dated in sequence. The physical exhibit opened in 2007 at the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College (where Livingston started the series, as a student).

I can't find any information on whether there are plans for the exhibition to travel. The website has every image, (almost 7000 of them) and they make gripping, if poignant, viewing. They reminded me of the energy of the human life, and the fleeting nature of our earthly lives. If I'm having a bad day, I'm going to try to remember this guy and how quickly our lives can turn around. I complain about the tube being crowded, my coffee being too cold, the alarm waking me before I'm ready, but today I hope to thank God that I'm alive, that I can drink coffee in a cafe reading the newspaper and that my ears could hear the alarm sound this morning.

Vanity

The Sartorialist is in London this week, braving the rain and bad customer service to photograph some of the city's stylish peeps. Call me vain, but I keep wondering if he would photograph me if he saw me in today's outfit... the answer (said to myself) is usually no, but I live and dream. I wonder if he'll take any more bicycle pix? The below is one of my favourites - I love how he looks so nonchalant, he has the air of being totally indifferent to what is happening. It looks like he's thinking, "I'm just a guy on a bike, get over it."

Jam Update

Just to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who bought jam in aid of the Care for Children China Earthquake Appeal.


Thanks to you we raised over £110, which we're really thrilled about. The CEO of Care for Children is currently travelling around China to assess the damage to the orphanages and to ensure help gets to the most needy. They have already pledged a huge amount of support to buy clothes, milk powder and food for the children. THANK YOU and please check out the website if you want to read more about the work.

Grateful Thursday

Technically I'm cheating, it should be Grateful Friday, everyone knows that, but I guess the rules are there to be broken! I started writing Grateful Friday a few months back to make me stop and think of the good stuff I've been blessed with, even when life gets dull or bleak or boring. It made me see that there is always something, however small to be grateful for...

1. The weather forecast for today and tomorrow says it's going to be sunny. I'm not sure I quite believe it yet, but there's hope on the horizon.

2. The thought of a bank holiday weekend away with ten of my closest friends. I can't wait! I'm thinking strawberries and cream, a midnight swim and a lot of lying on soft grass with a book.

3. H's new bike! Poor Gladys Pashley (H's fairly new bicycle that smacked of old-school glamour and inspired me to get my new Bobbin), sadly was stolen a few weeks back. Poor H. I almost cried and she wasn't even mine. The period of mourning is over and the time of free-wheeling is here. We're going to collect her new Bronx Vintage really early tomorrow morning and we're going to cycle back via breakfast somewhere in time to start the day.

4. Chorizo and slow-roasted tomatoes - a recently rediscovered recipe. Roast a pack of cherry tomatoes with olive oil, inch slices of red chilli, salt and pepper for 15 minutes. Add thin sliced chorizo and roast for another five and serve with cous-cous or on its own. Delicious if a little spicy.

Inspiration Number 3 (On a fashiony theme)

I wonder where you are reading this? In the office? Snatching a break from reality at home? Wherever you are hello! I'm typing this sitting al fresco with an americano at cafe around the corner from my 'office' (aka the library). Today the sky is blue, my coffee hot and my creativity stirred from the sites I've just been flicking through. It would be rude not to share so here goes:

• A Dress A Day - you may have picked up my renewed love for sewing and my weakness for dresses (I also have a weakness for dumplings but that's another post). A Dress a Day belongs to a lovely lady called Erin who has a huge appreciation for Vintage patterns. The site, which has developed a cult following internationally, tracks her love for dresses and her successes and not-so-great attempts at making her own. Very cool.
  
• Some Girls Wander - is the sister site of The Black Apple (referenced previously). Some Girls Wander is Emily Martin's 'fashion-y blog'. Her clothes are almost as beautiful as her paintings and I love seeing how she layers and puts together different fabrics. She has a gorgeous figure, but isn't a size 0 and it's great to see how amazing she looks without starving herself half to death.
• Gala Darling - belongs to a Melbourne based fashion-writer. That IS her real name, and she IS quirky and cool and whacky and all those superlatives rolled into one. Her blog is real-life, she writes about anything, not just fashion, and I guess the combination of shopping, fashion, where she goes on holiday and snapshots into her personal life has led to the site's popularity.
  

Hope you enjoy. If you read any inspiring fashion sites please leave a comment with the URL, I'm always on the look-out.

Jam Hot

The jam is made! H and I spent a morning in the kitchen last week and as I type this the jars are sitting looking at me all shiny and lovely. It was a bit stressful, I have to admit. I'm never quite sure when it has set or if we'll manage to get it finished without at least one limb or eyeball succumbing to a splash of molten sugar, but this time it was all good :)

WIP photos are here!




We decided that rather than giving the jam away, we'd sell it in aid of Care for Children's China Earthquake appeal. Care for Children is an amazing charity that facilitates fostering of orphaned Chinese children with other families, who either can't have their own children, or who are restricted by the one-child policy and would like to have a larger family (the one-child policy still allows for fostering and adoption). They have orphanages in the affected regions and will be helping in the aftermath of the earthquake. We're almost sold out but hope to make some more soon!

Hyde Park, 11am this morning

Coming Soon: Rhubarb & Ginger Jam

Do you like rhubarb? I for one think it's generally evil, though I am still traumatised from being force fed rhubarb fool at a convent in Whitby when I was nine. Apparently leaving it would have offended the nuns...

Anyhow, there is ONE way I like the pink celery, and that is when it's made into jam with a lot of ginger. I've been waiting for the price of rhubarb to come down so that I can jar some of this lush goodness. It seems that this weekend may well be the time, but to give you good people a head's up, here is the recipe, in case you feel so inclined:

1.1kg rhubarb (prepared weight)
1.1kg sugar (preserving sugar is best)
juice of 2 unwaxed lemons
25g root ginger, bruised and tied in a piece of muslin*
100g preserved or crystallised ginger

* If you don't have muslin you can use a pop sock or a foot from a pair of tights. Try to make it clean one!

• Wipe and trim the rhubarb and weigh it.

• Put into a large basin in alternate layers with the sugar and lemon juice. Cover and leave overnight.

• Next day, put the mixture into a pan with the root ginger, bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 15 minutes.

• Remove the bag, add the preserved or crystallised ginger and boil for a further five minutes, or until the rhubarb is clear and setting point reached (test for this by putting a spoonful onto a chilled saucer. If the jam wrinkles when you push it after a few seconds it's ready).

• Pot in sterlised jars and cover in the usual way.

Makes about 2kg.

I'll post photos of the finished result next week. Hopefully there won't be a repeat of the marmalade fiasco, which resulted in three times as much as expected, and no jars left in the house :-)

Thrifting

Our American friends across the pond are fond of the term 'thrifting', to describe buying anything second-hand for cheap... either from yard sales, charity shops, ebay or flea markets. Charity Shop Chic is having somewhat of a revival in London, but I wonder thrifting will be in fashion soon...

I love Vintage clothes and accessories, but generally resent paying what is charged at most shops, especially when I know the clothes have probably come from the local Oxfam anyway. I hadn't bought much for this reason for a while. But, a recent visit to a beautiful vintage shop in the Lake District made me get all excited about vintage again. The shop is called Ruby Blue and it's located in Carlisle, a little too far for most Londoners to travel to, but good inspiration nonetheless.

I scored two gorgeous dresses - a red and white printed wrap dress that is very me and just gorgeous. The only drawback is that I later realised it is made from 100% polyester. Oh so washable but oh so sweaty! Not such a summery find then.


The second is rather hilarious - a grey woolen pinafore that will take more than the usual tweaking to fit as it's a maternity dress. I just couldn't resist the beautiful neckline though. If I get round to altering it any time soon I'll post some photos.

Summer?!

Is it just me, or has it gone from winter to summer in about five minutes? Surely it was snowing four weeks ago, or was that my imagination? The weather is gorgeous, but I feel slightly 'in-shock' at its speedy arrival. Last night, I got home by the skin of my teeth on the last tube and strolled through the sultry air to my flat. It was too hot to sleep, so I made some tea and opened the cupboard to find two crumpets that I had my little heart set on... imagine my disappointment when I found they'd gone mouldy! Hmph. Turns out we live in a tropical climate now, I had no idea. We'll be putting bread in the fridge like the Aussies next.

Inspiration Number 2

A while back I posted a few links to people or sites I find inspiring, well here are a few more:

The Cupcake Bake Shop: For all you bakers out there, this is a fabulous site with heaps of recipe ideas for interesting, fusion-based fun cupcakes. I've made a few of the recipes in the past and can concur that they are wonderful.

The Sartorialist: I'm sure you all read this site already, but just in case anyone out there has been hiding under a rock and hasn't heard of it, hop over there right away! One of Time Magazine's top 100 most influential designers, the Sartorialist photographs ordinary people on the streets who have extraordinary fashion sense. I love seeing how people dress around the world, and if you're anything like me, a bit of inspiration when opening the wardrobe in the morning is always welcome.

3191: A year of evenings: This is a beautiful example of how a visual blog can be more than just collection of photographs. The follow-up to 'A year of mornings', two sisters who live 3191 miles apart each take a photograph of their evening. The results are juxtaposed and posted on the site for appraisal and comment. It's incredible how often the images tie together.

Enjoy!