Same Photo Every Five Years

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1982: Like all good friendships, there’s a photo that takes five high school buddies – John Wardlaw, Mark Rumer, Dallas Burney, John Molony, and John Dickson – back to a different time. For these five, it was just a year after their graduation from high school. They were 19 and vacationing at Copco Lake in northern California. The photo, taken with a self-timer, became was the starting point. (Courtesy of John Wardlaw)



1987: Every five years, they agreed, they would return to the same place. They’d sit on the same bench with the same mountains in the background. And, they’d sit in the same order, Wardlaw on the far left, Dickson on the far right, and Rumer, Burney, and Molony in the middle. Molony always holds a jar in his right hand. Rumer has a hat of some sort on his right knee. They all wear serious expressions. (Courtesy of John Wardlaw)



1992: And, every five years, there are subtle changes. Their hair and clothes reflect a change in fashion trends and, perhaps, a change in age. They’re all in T-shirts now. “It was cold and cloudy. From that point on, we didn’t have tans like we did early on,” Dickson told the Santa Barbara News-Press. “And,” Wardlaw added, “we were flabby.” (Courtesy of John Wardlaw)



1997: Since that first photo together, the men have gone their own ways. Dickson is a restaurant columnist. Wardlaw is into photography and film. Burney is a teacher. Molony works for UPS and lives in New Orleans. Rumer is retired and lives in Oregon. The Daily Mail reports that none of them have children. (Courtesy of John Wardlaw)

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2002: The men have been adamant about returning every five years for the photo. Once, they were together early for the shoot, and Rumer declined to participate in the photo. “It wasn’t every five years!” he explains. Wardlaw notes, “We all thought, ‘In 20 years, what if we all don’t know each other?’ By vowing to take a photo every five years, it would be a way to stay in touch.” (Courtesy of John Wardlaw)



2007: Twenty-five years and they haven’t missed a photo. Even though they don’t close to one another, they do whatever is necessary to get together, if not for friendship and fellowship, for the photo. “At this point, it’s the whole reason we’re there,” Dickson told the News-Press. (Courtesy of John Wardlaw)



2012: Time continues to challenge these men. It used to take 30 seconds to get the picture, when they used a film camera. Now they use a digital camera that enables them to check the photo immediately. It usually means retakes are a must “because it has to be perfect,” Wardlaw says. The men don’t foresee an end to the picture-taking. If something happens to one of them, they decided, they would maintain the tradition. “We’ll just have a gap in the photo,” Dickson said. (Courtesy of John Wardlaw)