ARTISAN
works

A Day A Photo

On December 31, 2003 I took a photo. Not such a big deal, I’m a photographer. I posted this particular photo on my website: willyurman.com. And the next day I took another photo, and posted it, and the next day, and the next.

I’ve taken a photo every day since. More than nine years and over 3,300 photos later the photos represent the world, through my eyes, one day at a time. My children have grown up. Our dog has grown old. I’ve changed jobs and moved to a new town.

For many years I was a newspaper photographer recording the daily life of Rochester, New York. Newspaper photos have demands of their own, constrained by the needs of a newspaper and the tastes of an editor. The project began as an outlet for all those pictures that had no other home. It evolved out of a fear that I was becoming trapped by the vision of others, and losing my own.

The fireworks appeared in the paper, but the kids on our street, lining up for a bicycle parade, was my photo of the day. The police tape at a crime scene was published, but three children, now orphans, peering through a door, are remembered only on my page.

I wanted a place to experiment, to publish, to pursue something I could never quite identify. It is still that, but has also become part diary, part sketch pad, a place of moments and memories.

I have been a photojournalist for more than 25 years. I have worked as a freelance photographer in Alaska and the Middle East and spent most of my career as a staff photographer at the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle.

In 2011 I became a senior lecturer in the College of Communications at Penn State where I teach photojournalism and multimedia. I live in State College with my wife Hilary, children Eli and Auden, our dog Lucy and two cats, Merry and Pippin.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

About Will Yurman

Will Yurman has been a photographer for more than 25 years. Will spent 16 years as a staff photographer at the Democrat and Chronicle. He has also worked as a freelance photojournalist in Alaska, Buffalo, and Jerusalem where he spent three years covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

His work has been published in newspapers and magazines around the world including the Washington Post, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Sydney Morning Herald, Newsweek, Le Monde, Time, Business Week, U.S. News & World Report, L’Express and Le Point.

In 2007 he produced a year-long project for the Democrat and Chronicle that documented the lives of every homicide victim in the greater Rochester area. The online project ‘Not Forgotten’ uses photographs and interviews with family and friends to tell the story of each victim and culminated with a solo exhibit at the George Eastman House.

His still photography and multimedia work have been recognized by, among others, the Pictures of the Year International and National Press Photographer’s Best of Photography contests.

He joined the faculty of Penn State University in 2011 where he teaches photojournalism and multimedia and also teaches at workshops around the country including the Mountain Workshops, Northern Short Course, NPPA Immersion Workshop, and Santa Fe Photographic Workshops.