A decade in the life

For the last ten years I have kept a photographic record of my life, printed each year in one or two photo books. The images have been shot almost exclusively on Leica cameras: the Q, M, and SL2. Many people who have seen the books have felt inspired to undertake a similar project, and have purchased the same equipment to undertake it.

To me, this project is completely aligned with Leica’s brand position that the world deserves witnesses, and shows how photography can be a catalyst for living a more adventurous life, a tool of self discovery, and a means to capture memories and events that only become more valuable with the passage of time. I also think this is exactly how most amateurs like me who buy Leica cameras use them in the real world — to capture what is meaningful to them in their day to day lives.

It would be a dream come true to have some of these photos printed within LFI along with an accompanying essay of what I’ve learned about life from having a ten year visual record, and — if I were to dream a little bigger — to have some hanging at the exhibition space at my local store in Los Angeles.

The photos themselves are a proxy for what I personally find meaningful, impactful, or wish to remember. They include beautiful landscapes — from the coast of Denmark to the urban jungle of LA. They capture my son’s life from a mere eight seconds after his birth to his current age of five and a half. They capture memorable experiences like being invited to the White House, the day of the dead celebrations, visiting the Burj Al Arab, or hiking through a Trinidadian jungle. And most of all they capture the beauty of day to day life that we take for granted: evenings with friends, family celebrations, or bath time at home.

The photos reveal much about the passage of time: how everything changes and everything stays the same, and how change is gradual — we age, the seasons pass — and episodic — children are born, couples marry, houses burn down, and loved ones die.

Most of all they have taught me what I value the most: my relationships with others and the beauty of the natural world, and reaffirmed to me that our lives are not measured in the days that have passed, but in the experiences we have and share with others. I hope this project will inspire others to live their lives to the full, and capture it all as they go.

I have put a representative sample of images in the gallery below.

You can also see my portfolio of landscapes and portraits.