Petrol Station Every Day of 2011

In 2011 I photographed my petrol station every day, from January 1st to December 31st. Every photo was taken with a Nikon d90 DSLR using an 18-55ml lens, standing in the same spot.

The petrol station is a 5 minute drive from my house, and an hour away from Melbourne city and the university I attend full time.

When approached I would say I was a commerce student documenting the petrol prices for uni.

I had to stop buying my petrol there.

My friends became mad with me for missing so many parties.

I had to cut short hot dates and once devastatingly turned down a free holiday with my girlfriend. It was funny for a while but eventually gave the impression I’d never prioritise her over my art, which is a truly difficult problem to overcome.

In July I went to Tasmania. The flight was at 7am so I took the photo at 5am. Taking that photo meant that the night before I couldn’t sleep closer to the airport with the people I was going with. It also meant I could only stay in Tasmania for one night.

For about two months I was sick. Once I didn’t get out of bed until 9pm, the only thing I did that day was take the photo.

In November I thought I had appendicitis, I spent the night in the Emergency Room and all I could think was that if I needed surgery I’d miss my photo.

In June my camera needed repairing so I had to keep re-borrowing the schools every day, anxiously hoping no-one else wanted it. This was the time of Japan’s radiation problem and that’s where the parts come from so the repairing took weeks. The exact thing happened again with my lens.

As the year went on I gained more confidence at pointing a camera at people. Some ducked, some waved, some stuck their thumb up, some stuck their finger up. One man desperately wanted to fight me.

Taking these photos was a stressful and punishing burden on my life. I once saw a Dilbert calendar that said, “Goals are a form of self inflicted slavery”.

I’m proud I did it.