Copco Lake Five Year Photos

Photos: John Wardlaw

Thirty years ago, five high school friends sat together and took a photo at Copco Lake, California. Though they didn't plan it at first, posing together became a tradition for them:

Every five years for the past three decades, John Wardlaw, John Dickson, Mark Rumer, Dallas Burney and John Molony have been meeting at the California lake and taking the same photo.

The first photograph of the high school friends was just happenstance. Wardlaw, known as Wedge in the group, had a family cabin at the lake where the friends gathered in July 1982.

While hanging out on the deck of the cabin, Dickson, or J.D., set his 35-millimeter camera on self-timer to take a group photo.

"For some reason, we all chose to have dark and mysterious expressions on our faces," said Wardlaw. "I'm sure we all thought we were being really cool."

And what exactly was in that jar?

Molony, known in the group as Belves, is pictured holding a Folgers Instant Coffee jar, which contained a cockroach the guys had decided to keep as a pet. They fed their new friend with a piece of butterscotch candy and kept it company with a photograph of Robert Young.

Kelly Andersen has the story over at CNN: Link | Their official webpage: Copco Lake Five Year Photo