(CNN) -- When five teenagers sat down and posed for a
picture at Copco Lake in 1982, they didn't plan on making it a
tradition. But that's what it became.
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."
Though they tried a
couple of poses, the one that would eventually win as the official
vacation photo depicts the five teens, three of them shirtless, with
shaggy hair typical of the time. They were about 19 years old.
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.
"Priorities were so
different back then. All I was really thinking about was summer and
girls," said Wardlaw.
As the men went into
their college years, they continued to return to the lake every summer.
They spent their time fishing and reading and playing roles in homemade
movies shot by Wardlaw, who is now a filmmaker.
"We're all very creative
people, so we would take all of our creative energy and focus it into a
certain direction," said Molony. "It wasn't, 'Let's all get together
and get drunk.' It was, 'Let's get together and see who can make the
funniest joke or pull off the sneakiest prank.'"

The men never drank on
the trip. It has always been good, clean fun.
At least fairly clean:
One year Wardlaw turned on the water to take a shower, and it was
running brown. He removed the shower head to find a beef bullion cube.
"When I went back to the
living room, the guys were all chuckling and I said something like
'beefy goodness' and they all exploded with laughter," he said.
But it wasn't until five
summers later when Wardlaw, a photography enthusiast, decided it would
be fun to recreate the photograph they'd taken in '82.
In 1987, the now
college-educated men sat in the same position on the same bench, again
with a self-timed camera. The jar, a different one this time, contained
no cockroach, and the hat held by Wardlaw was different as well. The
expressions however, were unchanged.
"I think I had a feeling
this might become some cool tradition, but I had no idea we would still
be doing it for 30 years," said Wardlaw.
In 1997, 15 years after
the original photo, the men, then in their mid-30s, decided to solidify
the photo as a tradition they would continue every five years for the
rest of their lives.
As the ritual became
more concrete and when digital cameras were introduced, the group became
more picky over the details of the photo, going as far as to wear the
same clothes, and designate an official jar and hat as props. Hairstyles
have changed over the years and with the march of time they abandoned
the bare-chested motif.
"Watch us lose hair and
gain forehead, gain and lose and gain and lose weight," Dickson posted
on a website
he maintains devoted to the tradition. "There are reasons we all
decided it was better to take the photo with our shirts on."
Now, the friends also
take the time to film the ordeal, and interview each other concerning
the last five years' events.
The guys all agree that
this trip has been the glue that has allowed them to maintain their
friendships.
"It's kind of an organic
relationship that's evolved not just from being high school buddies but
from having common passions for life," Molony said.
Over the years, the
friends have played parts in the milestones of each others' lives,
including being in each others' weddings.
"I look at the photos
and think of the relationships I went through," said Dickson. "Wedding
rings come and go, if you look closely."
Dickson, who now works
as a restaurant columnist, got married in mid-July and had some of the
guys in his wedding. In June, all five friends celebrated Dickson's
bachelor party at the 30-year anniversary of their Copco Lake tradition.
Molony, who has since
relocated to New Orleans and works for UPS, is married, as is Wardlaw,
who made a career of his love for photography and film. Burney is a
fourth-grade teacher. Rumer, known as "Kram," now resides in Oregon and
has retired after owning his own electronics company. None of the men
have children yet.
"We plan on doing this
for the rest of our lives, no matter what," said Dickson. "Up until
there's one guy just sitting in the same pose! Even then, maybe someone
will take a picture of an empty bench for us."
The seven pictures to
date are framed and hang on the wall of the cabin. The men still listen
to the same '80s music they were listening to when they were 19 years
old.
"I'm not in the same
place I thought I'd be, but I'm in the right place," said Dickson.
"Without this photo, there's no way we'd be together."