Morrissey Lifelong Project
I was once told that the difference between old people and young people is that the old talk about the past while the young speak of the future. If that’s true, then what do you call someone who aims to simultaneously embrace the past, the present, and the future?
My suggestion? A photographer.
Who else spends their days striking through life’s tiny slices of time searching for and translating merit and beauty and meaning and magic and art like a photographer does? Musicians and artists and other creatives delve into nearby waters but, arguably, photographers do so in a very accessible and uniquely documentary way.
That documentary ability is one of photography’s most fascinating and powerful characteristics, in that it reminds us of the passage of time. Who among us hasn’t been startled by looking at old photos of others (“that’s what my great-grandparents looked like?”) or ourselves (“I can’t believe I looked so young back then”)? Take away documentary photographs and what is left are often imprecise memories that transform as they are recalled.
With that in mind, and after brainstorming for some time, I began a project last year which I’ve entitled The Morrissey Lifelong Project. Soon after the birth of Ayla, their first child, Stephen and Zoe posed for a photo in front of their beautiful, historic home in the Shaganappi neighborhood of Calgary. At intervals that we hope will be as frequent as possible, we will recreate the photo over and over through changes of season and family additions and technological advances and landscaping fashions and whatever other twists in the story the future may hold. We aim to make this a lifelong timelapse project.
Perhaps not so incidentally, the word “shaganappi” means “rawhide thong or lacing” in the Cree language. How fitting it is that we are lacing together the extended version of the Morrissey family history in this visual format.
You can view the photos we’ve taken so far by clicking on the slideshow below or seeing the individual images below that.
March 11, 2012:
January 1, 2013:
March 4, 2013:
April 20, 2013:
May 24, 2013:
June 9, 2013:
August 9, 2013:
September 20, 2013:
January 26, 2014:
June 17, 2014:
July 20, 2014:
August 3, 2014:
August 25, 2014:
January 1, 2015:
February 22, 2015:
March 16, 2015:
August 1, 2015:
August 23, 2015:
October 31, 2015:
November 21, 2015:
February 14, 2016:
June 18, 2016:
Leroy, your comments of the project have been written very beautifully and meaninfully!
As I looked at the pictures, a sense of awe involved me to see the documented happenings of this couple’s life, not only historically, but by seasons too.
The seasons of life can also be applied to this project.
What amazes me the most is to see that in a few minutes I can see several years of this couple’s life in these pictures! Truly amazing! Congratulations, Leroy!
Yes, those are very eloquently emoted words…and pictures. Inspiringly so.
Love seeing the growth, the change…the expansion! Literally and figuratively! Lol
What an awesome concept, and implementation!