Five friends who have taken the same shot every five years since 1982 are due for another, and they have now shared it with the rest of the globe. John “JD” Dickson, Dallas Burney, Mark Rumer-Cleary, John “Belves” Molony, and John “Wedge” Wardlaw photographed the ninth photograph in their “Five Year Photo Project” last month. They went to the same site they always went—a prefabricated cottage on the California-Oregon border near Copco Lake.

When Burney, the guy in the middle, was diagnosed with liposarcoma this year, the men, all 59 (except Rumer-Cleary, 58), feared it may be a snapshot of four friends. He had a huge malignant tumor removed from his left leg in 2019. He has limited movement, yet he can still walk. He’s grateful just to be alive. “It’s nice to be back here and know that cancer isn’t going to stop what we’re doing,” he told CNN.

Because of Burney’s cancer scare and the pandemic, the trio hadn’t all been together since their previous portrait was taken in 2017. The men gathered the night before their last picture shoot to eat “Wedge” tacos, which Wardlaw produces by packing meat into hard taco shells and pan frying them so hot that he wears safety glasses and a glove to avoid spatter.On a Wednesday, the five sat on the deck railing in the same order and positions they had been striking since 1982 to follow a 40-year-old tradition.

Burney’s right hand is pressed against his right knee. Rumer-Cleary’s knee or lap is adorned with a cap. Molony is holding a jar in his right hand. The jar in the original photo contains a cockroach found near the cabin, butterscotch candy (roach food), and a cut-out photo of actor Robert Young from a coffee advertisement to keep the insect “company.”Some of them even started wearing the identical outfits a few images ago to get the photos as similar to the originals as feasible.

Strangers, according to Rumer-Cleary, a software engineer who co-founded Occam Networks. “It’s happened to me for a couple of different reasons,” he explained. “I’m 6’6″ and have facial hair. They won’t recognize it immediately away. ‘You appear familiar, but I’m not sure why.'” The buddies, who all graduated from Santa Barbara High School, shot the first photo using an automated camera timer when they were 19 years old.Wardlaw’s grandfather built the Copco Lake cottage where their reunions take place in 1970.

JD was the only one with a real 35mm camera during their 1982 lake outing, and he was the one who suggested they take some group shots. Wardlaw was able to persuade all five men to return to the lake in 1987, and he proposed replicating the initial photograph. He took all of the shots following the first one.. “When we took it and saw the photo, we said, ‘We should come back and take it in five years.'”

“I said, ‘We have to make a vow to do it every five years,'” he told the Santa Barbara News-Press in 2007.Only Dickson has remained in Santa Barbara, where he runs a tourism website. Molony is a photographer located in New Orleans. Wardlaw is a Bend, Oregon-based filmmaker and photographer. Rumer-Cleary lives in Portland, Oregon, and is retired. Burney is a retired Air Force veteran who will begin his 23rd year of teaching in Northern California this year.

Only two of them were married at the time of the 2012 photo. All of them were married by 2017, and JD already had a son. Wardlaw said they had numerous ideas for how long they want to capture the photograph. “When the story went viral in 2012, we were frequently asked this question.” So we began to think. We may still go with the blank space.” “We thought an Urn might be funny, since we have a sense of humor about it,” he explained on their website.

“Another possibility is that each of us has a mug with our nickname on it,” Wardlaw continued. “That person’s mug could be placed in the blank space.” What about making a cardboard cutout? There are numerous possibilities, but the true answer is that we will continue to photograph.” “We will keep taking it until there is no one left, and then hopefully someone, perhaps John Dicksons’ son, will take a photo of an empty deck railing where we once sat.”

These men are extremely fortunate to have such a strong friendship! If you want to stay up to speed on the “Five Year Photo Project,” visit their website or follow them on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The foursome came on the Today Show in August 2012 to share their tale. Here’s how it played out.