Finally, finished. Or is it? Finally, my ten-year project (that took fifteen years to complete) is finished. Pick a place. Visit it every month for twelve months, and chronicle that place at that time. Next year, do the same, but some place different. Repeat for ten years (interrupted by some realities of life.) Now, the photos, the books, and the video are done.
Yes, I am TomTheWriter, as a friend and fan has concisely rebranded me, but I am also a photographer. When I moved to Whidbey Island in 2005, I was finishing my first Twelve Month series. It was mostly words, with one photo for each chapter. It was set in the Washington Cascades, on the edge of wilderness along Highway 2.
Guidebooks existed about hiking in the area in summer. Some places had routes in winter. I knew that Nature had stories to tell every month. How hard would it be to be there a few times a month? One lake wouldn’t be enough. Barclay Lake is on the wet west side in basically a temperate rain forest. Lake Valhalla is on the crest, right along the Pacific Crest Trail, where the fish are more likely to see ice than sky. Merritt Lake is on the drier, east side, where forest fires are more likely.
Three books. Three years.
In the midst of writing the third book, Twelve Months at Merritt Lake, I moved to Whidbey Island. I could keep the theme running, but a group of friends, including a New York Times best-selling author of another personal finance book, asked me to write about personal finance because I could describe complex issues simply. (Dream. Invest. Live.) Writing two books at once was too much, especially with that sort of deadline and encouragement, so I decided to create five photo books about Whidbey instead. And it began.
Check Instagram for sunrise, sunset, and postcard shots. They are plentiful – though not in 2006 because Instagram didn’t exist. But, after my previous Twelve Month project, I knew there were pictures between those golden hours. Sunset on a Saturday in September? Sure. But what about noon on a Wednesday in March? What is Nature doing when the tourists aren’t around? We leave, and other species return.
To make things easy, I concentrated on the waterfront. All of the sites I chose were public. Cultus Bay is not, but it is where I started the series because my neighborhood borders it. It was an easy way to test the concept.
Cultus Bay is the southern tip of Whidbey, so naturally, the next place was the northern tip, Deception Pass. The middle, as measured by latitude, is Admiralty Head, though most locals know it as Fort Casey or the ferry terminal. I didn’t want to miss Penn Cove, so it was next as a stand-in for the middle of the north end. Double Bluff fit in as the middle of the south end.
I sold books and prints of photos. They sold well enough to sustain the project but not well enough to sustain me.
In the midst of that, personal finance problems arose. (See the irony?)
For several years, I didn’t have the funds to print, show, sell, and pursue what I had produced.
Enough of that. I like taking photographs and need to get out of the house more! OK. I’ll fit in five more places. That’s more representative, anyway. Maxwelton Beach and Possession Beach didn’t cost much in gas. I planned on going farther afield, but an opportunity arose to chronicle a new Whidbey Camano Land Trust site, Possession Preserve. Then, to the north end, Dugalla Bay, under the jets, and to finish Fort Ebey, a place for panoramas (while avoiding the crowds at Ebey’s Landing.)
That makes ten.
Views of Whidbey’s natural waterfront are precious. Public places are more precious. I point my camera towards the Nature that would’ve been visible prior to another waterfront attraction. There are a few photos of a bit of ruin, a golfball caught by driftwood, Coupeville’s wharf, Washington State ferries. But I am most intrigued by the colors, shapes, textures, and changes in sand, shells, waves, wood, and life. Ok. There are a few sunset shots, but hey, I like them, too, you know.
For each site, thousands of photos were taken, but were edited down to two horizontals and two verticals per month. For each site, the photos hope to capture arcs that fit each place. Avoid taking the same iconic photo too many times, however. Fit in as much as is reasonable and appealing in 48 photos. Multiply by ten and get 480 photos.
Recently, all 480 are available in one place, a video produced by Joe Menth at Feather & Fox, and now uploaded to YouTube. The video lasts over 40 minutes, but speed it up or slow it down with YouTube’s controls. It is provided without audio because I am not a musician. If musicians want to create another version, great, and contact me. If you want to see them in a rush, double the speed. If you want the images to go by at a more relaxing pace, set it for quarter speed. I hope you enjoy it at whatever speed.
You could also pause the video on a favorite photo, but they are also available in an online gallery, as prints and such. If you want a print and want to keep the business on Whidbey, contact Joe at Feather & Fox. Each year is available as a high-quality, hardback book sized to be easy to ship. It would be nice to compile one book with all of the photos, but at some point, that becomes something hard (and expensive) to print, bind, and ship.
I hope someone else continues the idea. While most of Whidbey’s waterfront is private, there are other beaches to chronicle. Ebey’s Landing, South Whidbey Park, West Beach, etc. Inland, we have lakes, forests, and preserves. Gardens, both botanical and sculptural, are attractive by design. I’d be surprised if the tourist places wanted to be left out.
Whidbey Island is more than one place. It is more than one visit. Most tourists carry away a few photos. Few locals get to see the entire island. I hope I’ve made celebrating the island a little easier.
Individual videos with narration for each site (2-3 minutes)
Twelve Months at Cultus Bay https://youtu.be/hCwWkIthihU
Twelve Months at Deception Pass https://youtu.be/mKBG23u_OUk
Twelve Months at Admiralty Head https://youtu.be/1TCsVhfM6jc
Twelve Months at Penn Cove https://youtu.be/WmSYLW4L-7U
Twelve Months at Double Bluff https://youtu.be/xFE9XV0QQ9o
Twelve Months at Maxwelton Beach https://youtu.be/kr6E7jiZkts
Twelve Months at Possession Beach https://youtu.be/nQaeMlPM3cs
Twelve Months at Possession Preserve https://youtu.be/J4UhEDlNDPw
Twelve Months at Dugualla Bay https://youtu.be/aqIRyF_PDxI
Twelve Months at Fort Ebey https://youtu.be/aqIRyF_PDxI
tomthewriter.com 
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