December 29, 2002 (1 of 3)

Byron Wolfe is a professor at California State University, Chico, in the department of Communication Design. His photography work is collected by museums across the nation, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Center for Creative Photography in Tuscon, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He says of his work, "For nearly twenty years I have held a deep and abiding interest in ideas about place, history, time, perception, representation, and personal experience." In 2002 he created a body of work called Everyday: A Yearlong Photo Diary, in which he set out to document the beauty in the mundane. This photograph is from that series. Byron set out to take at least one interesting picture everyday, and what transpired was a collection of beautifully composed images mainly of his home life in Northern California with his wife and two boys. The work was published as a book, in which he reflects, “Because I generally employed the “document everything” approach, genuinely surprising themes emerged, and I learned to pay attention to things I’d not previously considered important. But what was the most surprising—and reassuring—was learning that the paths I was following were anything but new. I was comforted by the reminder that for centuries, some of the most serious creative work has come from the most ordinary things: children, pets, fruit trees, seasons, and the passage of time.”For more information on the artist and his work, please visit www.byronwolfe.com.

Discussion Questions

(For Grades 4-12)

What's going on in this photograph?

What do you see that makes you say that?

What more can you find?

Bibliography

This list of resources is available for use at the Dubois Library at the Museum of Photographic Arts. The Library is open by appointment to MOPA Members, educators and researchers, and its collections are available for on-site use only. Contact the Library at 619-238-7559x216 or library@mopa.org.

Wolfe, Byron. Archival Materials. Vertical Files. Museum of Photographic Arts, Edmund L. and Nancy K. Dubois Library, San Diego, CA.

Wolfe, Byron. 2007. Everyday: a yearlong photo diary. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.