These days, almost everyone is a budding amateur photographer. Digital cameras have made high-quality photography so much more accessible (and inexpensive!) that enthusiasm for the craft seems to grow every day.

But recently I came across a Web site that pays heart-wrenching tribute to one such photographer who was perhaps a bit before his time. James Livingston took one Polaroid photograph of his life every day for 18 years, from March 31, 1979 to October 25, 1997—which was not only his 41st birthday, but the day he died.

Read all about his amazing journey here.

See them all for yourself here.

If this doesn’t inspire you to enthusiastically and without hesitation capture your real life, on good days and on bad days, in some visual way—a photograph, a handmade gift, a journal entry, an expressive new piece of artwork—I don’t know what will.

Above are just a few images from his journey, in chronological order: August 26, 1979, December 29, 1983, Christmas Eve 1985, January 8, 1989, January 31, 1994, and October 22, 1997--just a few days before his battle with cancer came to an end. What were you doing on these days? What did your life look like then? What does it look like today? And what can you do to honor it?

Happy Wednesday,
Jessica