When Albert Hastings was eighty-five years old, photographer KayLynn Deveney moved near his small flat in Wales. KayLynn took notice of the small rituals and routines--gardening, laundry, grocery shopping--that made up Bert's life. A friendship slowly developed as KayLynn began photographing parts of Bert's day. The two developed a simple yet effective method of storytelling--with KayLynn's images and Albert's handwritten text--and the project evolved into The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings a poignant and profound chronicle of aging, living alone, and the small things that make up our daily lives. Containing seventy-eight photographs along with poems written by Bert, his clock drawings, and personal family photographs, The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings gives the reader a glimpse into one man's life, we can only imagine what stories are left untold.
Albert Hastings passed away in February, 2007. He was 91 years old. KayLynn Deveney is pursing a PhD in photographic studies.
Editorial Reviews
Frames of reverence, The Albuquerque Tribune:
"sumptuous, moving, thought-provoking photos of the simple daily routines and environs of a self-sufficent but aging widower."
— Ollie Reed Jr.
A poignant collaboration develops on both sides of the camera, The Montreal Gazette:
"It is an extraordinary book, poignant and intimate. There is a dignity about the Albert Hastings we meet, about the way he does his own baking - "I know what I'm eating then," he observes - and how he lives quietly alone, ironing his clothes and cutting up bread to feed the birds. He has endured much loss - his wife, when she was young; a daughter; a grandchild - and his health is compromised. Yet, for the most part, he seems to live purposefully, to find pleasure in the warmth of the sun and his evening whisky, in the elaborate weekly television schedules he copies out for himself, crossing off the programs after he has watched them, shows like Frasier and Friends."
— Susan Schwartz
O, The Oprah Magazine:
"An old man alone, at home. You'll find nothing less, and profoundly more, in The Day to Day Life of Albert Hastings. Photographer Kaylynn Deveney's quietly moving late-life portrait. Hastings's handwritten captions create a revealing double perspective."
One mans life, in its simplicity , The Sunday Journal:
"KayLynn Deveney said she chose to shoot the so-called banal moments of Albert Hastings daily life. Those moments may be ordinary, but Deveneys camera puts a sweet face on the solitary life of this senior citizen in this book."
— David Steinberg
Foto8.com:
"On a splintered sill, against ageing mildew and the imperfect glazing of a modest Welsh apartment, a wind-snapped daffodil is held upright in a tacup by taut rubber bands. Wounded while in flower and almost insignificant , it has been saved by the caring, purposeful hands of the retired Albert Hastings.Moving through this intimate book, through pictures that bring us so close to albert and his small home with its modest and gentle logic, we cant help but care for him and those alone like him. Deeply."
— KG
The life and loves of the invisible man, Weekend:
"Albert Hastings would have passed away unnoticed - but for one stranger, who took these poignant photographs capturing the small joys and unexpected passions of a life lived in the shadows. "
O, The Oprah Magazine:
"An old man alone, at home. You'll find nothing less, and profoundly more in The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings, photographer KayLynn Deveney's quietly moving late-life portrait. Hastings's handwritten captions create a revealing double perspective."
A Little Deer blog:
"I highly recommend this book, it made me smile and cry at the same time."
Photo-Eye:
"The thrill of a secret garden lies in exploring a beauty that is normally hidden from view. In this collaborative visual diary, KayLynn Deveney and Albert Hastings combine text and image to reveal the quiet spendor found in the secret garden of every day routine."
— Mary Goodwin
