These friends have recreated their college holiday photo every five years since 1982

Keeping in touch with school friends can be tough – as time goes on, it’s more than easy to drift apart.

But five male friends from California have done more than just stay in touch – they’ve managed to recreate the same photograph every five years for the last 35 years.

Every year the group sit on the same bench, in the same order, by the same lake, while staying at the same cabin – they even make the same facial expressions and try and wear the same clothes.

The Five Year Photo Project started in 1982 when John Wardlaw invited his best friends from the Santa Barbara High School Class of 1981 to take a holiday at his grandfather’s fishing cabin.

One of the group, John Dickson, brought along his 35mm camera and on the Fourth of July holiday, he had the gang of five sit on the deck and pose for a photograph.

“We never intended on doing it again,” said Wardlaw. “However, five years later we were all on vacation again at the cabin and I decided we should duplicate it.”

The friends realised it was a fun thing to do and in 1997, resolved to keep on recreating the photograph as long as they could. In 2012, the story went viral for the first time.

“I don’t think we realised how special our friendship was to keep going after 30 years, and now 35 years,” added Wardlaw.

The group have even made a pact to continue the Five Year Photo project after any of them pass away. Dickson would like his son to take a picture of the empty bench when the last of them goes.

The next photo will be taken in 2022, when the friends are likely to go viral again.