On january 1st, 2008 I began a project where I would take one
polaroid picture every day of 2008. It was a fun, challenging,
and sometimes frustrating endeavor, but I now have 365 polaroids
portraying the ups and downs and travels of a year in my life.
And 2009 is upon us...
The most rewarding aspect of that project was the fact that every
day I was forced to look at the world around me and experience
each day on a very visual level. Oftentimes, though, I'd pass
over what turned out to be a great photographic opportunity in
the hope a better one would be around the corner, resulting in
a mediocre photo for the day. However, the project was not about
the “best” photography but rather simply of a diary
of seeing for a year.
As 2008 drew to a close I set my sights to 2009. A picture-a-day
was very challenging, do Igive myself a break, freedom from carrying
the Polaroid with me every day, freedom from having to constantly
be on the lookout? Or, was the forcing of this creative project
on me every day a priceless exercise? Never one to rest, I have
decided that in 2009, starting on January 1st, of course, I will
carry a small digital audio recorder with me every day of the
year and record one sound per day.
As a musician I rarely work with “field recordings”
although I am familiar with them enough as a sound source and
have used them in my compositions from time to time. However,
I am always listening and find beauty and serenity in many of
the everyday sounds that surround me. This exercise will not only
force me to listen more carefully every day, but expand my own
sound palette. Like my polaroids, it will not be about capturing
a "perfect" sound, but be a simple audio diary of each
day. Undoubtedly, there will be many wonderful sounds that I capture,
but that is not the primary focus of the project.
I will not set a time limit on each day’s recordings, but
rather make each recording as long as it needs to be to capture
whatever it is i’ll be recording. The only rule I will set
on myself is that all of sounds must be recorded through a microphone,
no direct line connections into the recorder. This will assure
a certain quality (at times, poor) and character. These recordings
will be featured on my blog (12kblog.wordpress.com)
and, of course, this web page.
If 2008 was a year of seeing every day, 2009 will be a year of
listening. The death of Polaroid's instant film market has made
the Polaroid-a-day difficult to continue... My project was timely.
Needless to say, as a photographer, I will never stop looking,
nor will I rarely be caught without a camera, but to form a year’s
worth of living and travelling with an audio diary will be a new
way for me to experience each day.
JUNE
30
Pound Ridge, NY, 9:38pm
a bit of quick guitar playing/processing.
JUNE
29
Pound Ridge, NY, 1:38pm
found a small rock inside a plastic bottle as i was carrying it
to the recycling bin. two different parts to the recording here.
one close up, one arm's length away in garage.
JUNE
28
Pound Ridge, NY, 7:32am
room tone.
JUNE
27
Pound Ridge, NY, late afternoon
at the town park by the pool. i've done a few recordings here
and there's always interesting natural reverbs.
JUNE
26
Pound Ridge, NY, evening
a thunderstorm brewing with a few drops of rain. the rain never
seems to stop.
JUNE
25
Pound Ridge, NY, 6pm
an interesting bird call as evening comes. not sure what kind
of bird that is.
JUNE
24
Pound Ridge, NY, 3pm
toy walkie-talkie's beeping out a simple message.
JUNE
23
Pound Ridge, NY, 9:44pm
a quiet night off the back porch.
JUNE
22
Pound Ridge, NY, 8:15pm
legos.
JUNE
21
Ridgefield, CT, 3;33pm
standing in the Aldrich Museum's sculpture garden between two
giant pieces of stainless steel, a sculpture by Edward Tufte.
people around were talking and the steel was generating some interesting
acoustic effects. not so picked up by the recorder. like the sculpture,
i guess you had the be there. Tufte, by the way, is a huge influence
on me.
JUNE
20
no sound.
JUNE
19
Pound Ridge, NY, 6pm
driving in the car while tapping out rhythms on a hinge to the
storage area between the driver and passenger seats.
JUNE
18
New York, NY, around 2pm
in-car sounds as i drive to brooklyn for a meeting.
JUNE
17
Pound Ridge, NY, 10:40am
more rain. more rain. more rain. more rain. more rain. more rain.
more rain. more rain. more rain. more rain. more rain. more rain.
JUNE
16
Mount Kisco, NY, 1:00pm
after two weeks of solid rain, this sound becomes quite normal.
JUNE
15
Suffield, CT, 11am
some random noodling wtih a a very old 3-stringed (used to have
3) instrument made from a shallow, flat, wooden box.
JUNE
14
Suffield, CT, 11am
some random noodling wtih a a very old 3-stringed (used to have
3) instrument made from a shallow, flat, wooden box.
JUNE
13
Suffield, CT, 1:15pm
sitting on the porch, messing around with an Ukelele.
JUNE
12
Suffield, CT, around 9am
an old, rusty metal toy dumptruck being pushed along the stone
floor of a 200 year old barn.
JUNE
11
Pound Ridge, NY, 4:40pm
a rough recording of a track i'm working on for my solo CD on
12k for 2010.
JUNE
10
Pound Ridge, NY, evening
the start of days upon days of rain.
JUNE
9
Pound Ridge, NY, 1:26pm
a garbage can, a walk down the driveway, and some birds.
JUNE
8
Pound Ridge, NY, late morning
a Field Day at the local elementary school, watching my son in
some races.
JUNE
7
Greenwich, CT, around noon
a group of young students at Chinese language school reciting
at a year-end performance.
JUNE
6
Tarrytown, NY, around 5:30pm
along the Westchester bike trail. my son throwing pebbles into
the lake... and giving me quite the challenge.
JUNE
5
Katonah, NY, late morning
atop a small hill in the forest, marveling at the natural reverberations
and general peace.
JUNE
4
Katonah, NY, early afternoon
a small waterfall (about 5' high) in the Marion Yellow Preserve.
JUNE
3
Pound Ridge, NY, 3:30pm
rain falling under a tree, pebbles grinding in the wet earth.
JUNE
2
New Canaan, CT, 1pm
in a grassy field trying to record the grasshoppers, which you
can hear buzzing as they jump. otherwise, nice natural ambiance.
