Artist and photographer Noah Kalina diligently works in his Barryville studio when not traveling across the state or country, taking photographs for magazines, companies, and major museums.

At any given moment during his day, he stops what he is doing, takes out a point and shoot digital camera, holds it out at arm's length, and snaps a photograph of himself.

He has been doing this for 20 years.

On January 11, 2020, he took his 7,305th photograph for his ‘Everyday' project that he started so long ago. At this time, Kalina says he has no intent of stopping.

“I will do this until the day I die,” Kalina told the Democrat during a visit to his studio.

The Start

Flashback to 20 years ago and the year was 2000 and Kalina was a 19-year-old student attending the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in Manhattan.

Digital photography was starting to become affordable enough that the general public could partake in the new wave of photography.

Kalina bought a digital camera that could capture both videos and photos. One feature he focused on was the pull-out flip screen that allowed you to view yourself if you were to point the camera to yourself.

“Why else would they make that feature, other than to take a photo of yourself,” he said. “How do I make this camera worth it? I need to use this every day, at least.”

He searched for something that he could photograph every day, and it ended up being himself.

Kalina brought the newly purchased digital camera into his SVA photography class and told them his idea for the project. Kalina said they all thought he was nuts.

This was ten years before the age of Instagram and the “selfie” craze that several apps have made famous.

“I was ahead of my time, but only by a couple of years,” said Kalina.

Kalina says some refer to him as the “Godfather of the Selfie.”

When Kalina started on his journey, he said several factors led him to pursue this endeavor.

“I was interested in the subtlety of aging, digital technology, and just thinking that it was a good idea,” said Kalina.

For the 20th anniversary, Kalina has made a six-foot-tall print of all 7,305 photographs from this project lined up in a grid.

The photograph will be on display this weekend at VSOP Projects Gallery in Greenport, New York. The print can also be viewed on his website noahkalina.com.

“If this [the print] was at full resolution, it would be like three stories [tall]," said Kalina as he showed the Democrat a proof copy of the print.

Going Viral

Kalina took photographs of himself for six years before releasing a five-plus minute video on YouTube in August 2006.

Soon the video went viral when at the time, going viral was still a new phenomenon.

Television stations began to notice, and Kalina's work was featured on VH1 and commercials for Time Warner Cable.

Kalina was invited to a VH1 award ceremony in December 2006 to recreate his ‘Everyday' project with the celebrities backstage.

“Thinking back on it, at that time, it was very surreal. You go from a nobody to having all this attention. It was flattering, stressful, and confusing,” said Kalina.

A few years later, T.V. shows like the Simpsons and Family Guy parodied Kalina's video.

Kalina was starting to get recognized more for his viral video than his photographic work at that time.

However, soon companies and publications took notice of Kalina's unique way of photographing and started to hire him.

“It definitely introduced a lot of people to my work,” said Kalina.

Soon, Kalina's client list expanded, and he has since worked for Google, Gucci, Levi's, Timberland, General Electric, Disney, Morgan Stanley, Sony Records, VH1, MTV, Atlantic Records and more.

At one point, Kalina ended up at Mark Zuckerberg, the Co-founder of Facebook's wedding. He took one of the first public photographs released by the newlyweds.

Kalina recently worked with the Museum of Modert Art (MoMA) on its ad campaign to promote its recent renovations.

Kalina's MoMA ad photographs can be seen now on electric billboards and subway cars throughout New York City.

2020

On January 11, 2020, at 9 a.m. Kalina released his newest video, and by 2 p.m. that day, it had already garnered 6,000 views. The next morning, the tally was 250,000 views. By press time Thursday, it had over 1.3 million views.

Kalina said the new video was very well received.

Soon after the video was posted online, Kalina's Instagram followers paid tribute to the anniversary video by posting a video of themselves watching the ‘Everyday' video.

Some commented on how they remember watching the first video in 2006 and how amazing it was to be a witness to the 20-year version of the video.

After the video was published on Monday morning, national and international news outlets, blogs and tv shows caught wind of the project and broadcasted about Kalina.

When the 2006 video was released, Kalina was still an emerging artist, and according to Kalina, it chronicles a time that nothing was happening for him.

“The first video was hugely popular, but nothing happened,” said Kalina.

Kalina said the new video shows his transformation from being a 19-year-old “kid” to becoming a working artist to finally moving to Sullivan County.

The 2020 ‘Everyday' video starts with a piano arrangement by Carly Comando, as a young Kalina first greets you. As you watch the video progress, you see Kalina age.

You notice the texture of his hair changes, and his skin begins to shows the signs of aging, with a background that is ever-changing.

“I can tell at any moment where I was in my life just by seeing the background,” said Kalina.

The background behind Kalina tells the other story where he has been.

If you look closely, people start to pop up in the background. Friends, families, and studio visitors that have crossed paths with Kalina are immortalized in the video.

Sullivan

Working in his studio in Brooklyn, it faced the northside, and it was always blanked in shadow.

“My whole time living in the city was always kind of dark,” said Kalina. But after moving 90-plus miles north to Barryville, Kalina said he welcomes the light.

One wall of Kalina's new studio is a partitioned glass wall that lets in the morning sunrise that floods the studio with daylight.

“I feel like this is what you need to live to feel normal. It's a better way to live,” said Kalina.

Kalina's future plans are, “To take it day by day.”

To see more of Kalina's work, visit noahkalina.com.