Invited Guest: Roelof Bakker, 365 Days

Invited Guest: Roelof Bakker, 365 Days

365 Days is symptomatic of my serendipitous approach to image making - a collection of 365 postcard images, one for each day of a year, which I exhibited online, in my home and in book form. The project started as a new year's resolution with the aim to create a visual diary of my life in London and beyond. I could photograph whatever I wanted to record on a particular day - the only requirement I needed to fulfill was to take at least one photograph before midnight each and every day of the year. All selected photographs are labelled with the date, time, place, location and postcode and these details are an intricate part of the project.

Sarah Kent writes in her introductory essay 'Close Encounters' in the book of 365 Days: 'Roelof Bakker is not attempting some kind of philosophical resume, yet no matter whether you believe that your encounters and your very life are gifts from God, or merely the result of happenstance, 365 Days encourages you to ponder those moments that you didn't record and didn't even bother to experience fully...365 Days presents life as a series of fortuitous happenings - as beautiful as the chance encounter of a photographer and a broken umbrella in a London square - images, that seen together acquire an almost surreal intensity.'

Out of the 365 images, I have picked one photograph from each month of the year.

26 January, 10.15. Mouse, door, Rosebery Gardens, N8 (image 1)
3 February, 10.44. Little Drummer Boy, Le Louvre, Paris, France (image 2)
12 March, 16.56. Strangers, bench, Hyde Park, W1 (image 3)
2 April, 17.21. Sign, The Perseverance, Pritchards Road, E2 (image 4)
28 May, 19.40. Johnny, men's ponds, Hampstead Heath, NW3 (image 5)
6 June, 18.24. Sticker, door, Hammersmith Road, W6 (image 6)
8 July, 08.03. Alive, bathroom, Rosebery Gardens, N8 (image 7)
2 August, 18.57. Icecream, Rosebery Gardens, N8 (image 8)
23 September, 11.31. Apple, footpath, Chapel Lane, Boxhill, Surrey (image 9)
19 October, 18.09. Bridge, Rembrandt Park, Amsterdam, Netherlands (image 10)
15 November, 15.29. Shoe, toilet, Griffin House, Hammersmith Road, W6 (image 11)
31 December, 11.19. Nick, life, Rijksmuseum, Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands (image 12)

At the moment I am planning an exhibition of a night time diary style photography project as well as finalising a work exploring aspects of death.

For more information visit http://www.rbakker.com/

Photos and text by Roelof Bakker

Invited by Darren Hepburn