I am camera shy and that’s putting it mildly. I usually don’t like how I look in photos and I love observing and capturing photos so I frequently find that I’m not in photos, normally that wouldn’t bother me, but as time goes on and I try to age gracefully more wisdom comes with that age. With that wisdom comes an even greater appreciation for photographs and the importance that they have in my life and the lives of so many others.
Last year we lost my dad, and as often happens, we scrambled for photos, we had a lot of my dad but we had to look hard to find some with him and the important people in his life. The calls went out and the photos came in, it didn’t matter if they were faded or torn, people didn’t care what they looked like, all that mattered was that we had the photos and that meant the world to us. We looked through photo albums, remembering stories of my dad and others that aren’t with us. We found photos in boxes, bags, and drawers, some we’d never seen but they meant a lot to him. We found those photos that he’d taken from the albums and squirreled away for his own enjoyment. Photos of him when he was a child, a young man with that devious twinkle in his eye, and of course those of the older dad that we remembered.
This wasn’t the first time, we’ve gone through the same exercise over and over again and have been reminded of countless memories every time. Looking at images of relatives and seeing the resemblance knowing that you are a part of the story is irreplaceable. Sharing the stories with those that weren’t there, laughter and tears you can feeling the emotions that a conjured up with the tales is an amazing experience.
Our story is not unique; it’s quite common when we lose someone that any and every photo becomes so much more important, out of focus, torn, scratched it doesn’t matter. Children and grandchildren and countless others, will flip through albums, sort through photo boxes sharing the passed down stores of and the faces looking back at them. Now is the time to create those images, they’ll be enjoyed today and for the storytelling days to come.
Having found a love for photography at age 9 with my first Polaroid camera, I’ve always had a love for and much respect for capturing the moment. I actually used to chase everyone through the house, no care about what they looked like what they were wearing or even if they wanted their picture taken, I was determined. Looking back I’m so glad for those images and the stories that they tell.
We recently had the chance to get together to celebrate a wedding and it gave us a chance to capture even more memories, more stories to be told over and over and over again, we’ll be passing them down from generation to generation. Grandmothers, parents, cousins, sisters, brothers, sons daughters, you never know when you’ll have a chance to all get together again so each and every time is a gift to be treasured. Everyone’s been sharing the images already and we have seen just a small sample of the beautiful professional photos that were taken. Our causal snapshots might have cluttered backgrounds or the color or composition is a little off, but no one cares, we have those memories and we’ll have them to share for years and years to come and everyone is just happy to have them. Of course we’ll love the beautiful professional images too.
My message to you is to keep taking those photos, from the professional ones for keeping sharing displaying to the informal phone captures and everything in-between. Make sure you get in there and are present too. Don’t worry about how you look what you are wearing, exist in photos as Sue Bryce says, those photos will matter and they will mean the world to those that love you. Print them, save, them back them up for they are your precious memories and they tell stories that wont’ be forgotten. You can never have too many; so keep adding to pile and remember, they are priceless.
What photos do you treasure the most and why?
-Trina