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40 YEARS IN THE MAKING SO FAR

Since 1982 five friends have been taking the same photo every five years for 40 years.

Five friends from Santa Barbara, California go on vacation every 5 years to the same place to take the same group photo and they have been doing it since 1982. They started as teenagers when they were just 19 years old. In 2022, at age 59 (well, not Mark, he was 58), they took the 9th photo, 40 years after it began.

They visit the same lake. They stay in the same cabin. They sit on the same deck railing. They sit in the same order. They make the same pose. They even make the same facial expressions. And, starting a few photos ago, some of them began wearing the same clothes. 2017 was special because the three guys named John returned to the shirtless appearance they hadn't done in 30 years.

Left to right:
John Wardlaw, Mark Rumer, Dallas Burney, John Molony, John Dickson

Below are a selection of news articles and videos including
The CNN Story that had more than 50 million views

From 2018-20 our photos were part of an museum exhibition in Frankfurt and Berlin.
Exhibit titled Like You! Digital and Analogue

Videos
Reddit 2012 Videos KOBI NBC Video 2012
Dichotomy of the Dog Blog 2012 CNN Video Central Oregon Daily 2022
Relatively Interesting 2020 Making the Lake Vanish Sunrise Australia 2018
  Draining of Copco Lake 2024 KEYT 3 Santa Barbara 2017
  Bringing the lake back  

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All photos ©1982-2024 John Wardlaw
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