“We said a date …” They are five friends, united like the five fingers of the hand for years. John Wardlaw, Mark Rumer, Dallas Burney, John Molony and John Dickson got together sworn loyalty in friendship and to keep their promise, have established an unchanging tradition: taking almost the same group photo with the same pose and the same facial expression every five years. For 35 years, the five Americans from Santa Barbara, California have portrayed themselves in shorts and t-shirts (sometimes bare-chested) with the same posture. The last image in this series, for the moment showing 8 shots, dates from Saturday, June 24, 2017.
From a simple gag to a “special” tradition
The genesis of this tradition dates back to the 1980s. The five schoolmates go on an excursion to fish and immortalize their trip by taking a picture of themselves. Five years later, it is by chance that they find themselves in the same place and have fun remaking the scene they capture with their camera. “That’s how it started. We carried on the tradition, but after the age of 20 we realized that it was something special and that we should keep this habit as much as we can.” , says John Wardlaw, in his late fifties, one of the gang members, interviewed by Verne El Pais.
In 35 years, and with advancing age, the features have deepened, the hair has become thinner and thinner. The build may also have varied. But there is one detail that does not change in these fifties: the enthusiasm to meet again to immortalize a long-standing friendship.
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