Jamie Livingston, a “photographer, filmmaker, circus performer, accordion player, Mets fan, and above all, loyal friend,” took a “Photo of the Day,” or P.O.D from March 31, 1979 to, the day he died, Oct. 25, 1997. [mental_flossBlog]

When he died of cancer on Oct. 25, 1997 (his 41st birthday,) he left behind a collection of 6,697 photographs “neatly organized in small suitcases and wooden fruit crates.”

Over the years that followed, all of Livinston’s photographs were scanned, and in Oct. 2007 — nearly a decade after his passing — the reprints were presented as “JAMIE LIVINGSTON. PHOTO OF THE DAY: 1979-1997, 6,697 Polaroids, dated in sequence.”

In a Herculean effort since his death, the Polaroids were scanned, digitized and cataloged by Hugh Crawford and Betsy Reid. Friends of Jamie, a group led by his widow Linda Schaeffer, raised funds to have the photos digitally re-printed on 80 panels. The Bard exhibit opened on October 13th.

The exhibit consisted of a “7 x 120 ft wall of Polaroids arranged chronologically from 1979 until 1997.” Shown at Livingston’s alma mater, Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, many of the early photos were taken during his time there and document some of his friends and their shared habits.

“The photos stand alone as art, but the exhibition, in total, is an overwhelming and wildly powerful viewing experience,” says Risa Mickenberg, one of the friends of Livingston who organized the exhibition. “Personal, specific, and an inimitable record of street life, humanity, and daily, ordinary joy are shown in these images.”