Daily Photo Aging Project - 20+ YEARS Worth ( photo-a-day ):

Here's my latest video. It's entitled "Rip Dan Wrinkle" and it encompasses a little over 20 years:





This is the first aging video I created. It's entitled "Time of my Life". It was created about 4 years ago and encompasses approximately 16 years. It's a low resolution, non-dejittered, highly compressed version:

You can also download a copy of "Time of my Life" if you click here .
It's almost 20MB and so don't attempt this unless you have a hi-speed connection.

Alternate Vision/Version:

Steven Hoskins is a video artist who used some of the photos. Here's a link to one of the videos he created.
If you'd like to see more of his work then go here.

General Description:

The following images are of the apparatus that I'm using to create a stop-motion animation of myself getting older. Every day I position myself in the center of this ring and take two simultaneous photos (180 degrees apart). The ring is marked off for the 365 days of the year and a pair of crosshairs (mounted on a sliding wooden fixture) are incremented along the circumference of the ring to line up with these markings. I use the crosshairs to position my head as nearly as possible in the center of the ring. So far, I've accumulated almost 21 years worth of photos (the project was started on June 1st of 1991).

An early photo of the ring when I used to live in Chatsworth (LA).

Normally the ring hangs from the ceiling but this is similar to what I do when I travel.

The ring viewed from the top.

Close up of the Spring section.

Close up of the Fall section.

Partially dismantled.

Completely dismantled.

All 8 of the ring segments

Just prior to packing.

All packed up.

Packed and ready to go.

The ring is designed as follows:

The foundation of the design is 2 wooden rings, each 4 feet in diameter, 4 inches wide and 1/2 inch high. Each of these rings is cut into 4 pieces. The rings themselves symbolize the year and the 4 pieces symbolize the 4 seasons. Each of the 2 rings lie on top of each other and are bolted together. They are rotated relative to each other by 1/8. This rotation causes the 4 seasons of the lower ring to overlap the 4 seasons of the upper ring. Because of this I have determined that there are really eight seasons: lower-seasons(Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) & upper-seasons(Allwin, Tersp, Ringsum, Merfa). The upper seasons overlap the lower-seasons and are formed by taking the appropriate syllables. For example, Tersp is the end of WinTER and the beginning of SPring.

Breaking the ring (year) up into 8 overlapping pieces allows me to pack it up and take it with me when I travel. It also makes the ring very stable when bolted together.

I have 2 cameras mounted to the ring opposite each other. When one camera is looking at the front of my face the other camera is looking at the back of my head

The ring is marked off with 365 tic marks which represent the days of the year. The tic marks cause me to look directly at one of the cameras at the Spring and Fall Equinoxes and sideways to the cameras at the Winter and Summer Solstices.

View of my head from the 2 cameras at the Summer Solstice.

View of my head from the 2 cameras at the Spring Equinox.

FAQ:

Problems with the current version of "Time of my Life" (and future plans):

Strange, Mysterious and Unsavory Comments:

There are several categories of these types of comments which have appeared on youtube. I created a composite comment to represent each category and have listed them here with my reply.

Links: