(I’ve had hundreds of ideas over the years and, due to finances or sheer laziness, have only attempted a few of them. As I dribble slowly towards quietus, it is time I quit holding so close to my chest the ones I am likely to never be able to attempt)
Inspired by the the writings of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and documentaries that visit people throughout various stages of their lives, this idea requires a family or group of people: Four times a year you assemble them in the same place, in essentially the same positions, and take a picture.
As the years progress and the pictures are stitched together as frames of a film, what you get is a time-lapse of them growing, aging.
This would be particularly interesting with a young family: being able to watch as the bulge in mama’s stomach swells to produce a tiny mass of swaddled pink which, in seconds, becomes an adult. Further, it would be nice to have a sapling or some other slow-growing flora planted within the first frame so we can watch it grow, as well.
The downside to this idea is that it would be nearly impossible to pull off and potentially very upsetting.
In the winter of 2006/2007 I started Project Follicle: a time lapse of hair growth. I shaved my head and beard, then sat in front of the camera, once a day for 30 days. I should’ve gone on for another month for a more dramatic change but, after the first month of not having them available for anything else, I really, really wanted my lights and camera back.
(click the pic at the top of this post, or here, to see the resulting time-lapse loop)
Despite my attempts, I didn’t manage to position my face the same every time and, because of this, the end result is more distracting than interesting – you don’t notice the hair growth as much as my wormy squirming – what’s wrong with that guy? Has he got to “go?”
It didn’t help that I was taking the pic first thing in the morning and that I hadn’t built a much needed brace of some sort to help position my head more uniformly.
If one man’s head proved as difficult over a mere month, imagine a group of people forced to do this year after year after year.
Further, who wants to watch grandma slowly become more stooped and bent until – Poof! – she’s no longer in the picture? Worse, what if jr. is hit by a train?
I’d still love to see this done but I find the likelihood rather slim.
UPDATE:
My friend KJT pointed out a link on YouTube that is pretty much the same idea as mine (see comments for said link) . I found a number of others as well – here’s my fave:
Living MY Life Faster – 8 Years of JK’s Daily Photo Project – Friggin’ awesome!
Every day, for six years!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B26asyGKDo
There’re more just like it linked to the side – freaking awesome.
So much for originality … =D