Director’s Statement

As we get older, many of us start to wonder: Who are we? What is our legacy? Michael started this Picture of the Day project on his 30th birthday and has never stopped … save for that one night he spent in jail. He’s now in his 50s and he has taken more than 8,000 photographs using a variety of film cameras. He has never shown them publicly. The prints are stacked neatly, stored in several containers in his basement. Taking these photos has been the most meaningful thing he’s ever done in his life. Now Michael is questioning, for the first time, why he did this at all. Why is he so obsessed? He’s also concerned that he’s destined lose his memory, which makes him ponder his mortality and his legacy. Without labels, without stories attached to these images that have been so central to his life, will they just become the discarded hobby of one eccentric man? Will there be no evidence of his life’s passion? Will no one try to understand his journey and his effort to make sense of this world? VIEWFINDER is more than a story about photos. For me, it’s a story about commitment, memory and mortality. VIEWFINDER asks a question many of us ask ourselves: What do we leave behind and who will care?

- Melody Gilbert