--- 18schn450.1.jpg Noah Kalina’s “everyday,” a video compilation of more than 2,000 self-portraits. It was inspired in part by a Ms. Lee's project. --- 18schn600.2.jpg Ahree Lee’s “me." Art
Look at Me, World! Self-Portraits Morph Into Internet Movies
By KEITH SCHNEIDER
Published: March 18, 2007

NOAH KALINA flew to Switzerland last month to attend the opening of “We’re All Photographers Now,” an exhibition at the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne. The show is a survey of trends in digital photography, particularly portraiture, and Mr. Kalina produced its foremost example of how technology is changing the genre. His globally popular video “everyday” is composed of 2,356 daily self-portraits shot from Jan. 11, 2000, to July 31, 2006.

Noah Kalina’s “everyday,” a video compilation of more than 2,000 self-portraits. It was inspired in part by a Ms. Lee's project.

Mr. Kalina, 26, lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and earns his living photographing the interiors of Manhattan bars and restaurants. Ever since he posted “everyday” to YouTube in August, this six-minute film has generated a low-level conversation in photographic circles about its artistic merits.

But what makes “everyday” truly exceptional is how easy it was to make and how quickly it attracted a huge audience, said William A. Ewing, director of the Musée de l’Elysée, who selected it for the exhibition.

“Noah’s video represents a phenomenal amplification not just in what he produced and how he did it, but how many people the piece touched in such a short period of time,” said Mr. Ewing, the author of “Face: The New Photographic Portrait” (Thames & Hudson). “There is nothing comparable in the history of photography.”

“Digital technology, computers, software and the Internet multiply the number of people with access to taking and viewing pictures,” he added. “Once you buy the camera, there are almost no other costs. That is increasing the variety and creativity in how people take pictures, and what they do with them.”

“We’re All Photographers Now” (www.allphotographersnow.ch) continues through May 30.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/arts/design/18schn.html http://www.allphotographersnow.ch/