January 06th, 2025

Take the Photo

My first memories surrounding photography begin with the photo album my mom made for me when I was a little girl. We always had lots and lots of family photos around the house growing up, but this particular album was my favorite. It was a little 5x7 book with a purple and green Veggie Tales cover (if you know, you know). She filled it with photos of my first few  years of life, and I do recall adding to it occasionally as I grew up. And they weren’t JUST photos of me. They were photos of me with almost all of my friends and family.  That little album is so special to me, and I remember spending so much time pouring over those photos as a little kid. 

Having access to those photos felt like a time machine to parts of my life that I was too little to remember. It was a way for me to feel connected to the grandparents and great grandparents that passed before I was big enough to remember them or understand who they were. They gave me away to feel closer to my extended family that lives out of state and I only get to see a couple of times a year. They gave me a way to remember my grandparents’ old farmhouse, and a means of visualizing the house that my family lived in right after I was born. They were also one of my biggest comforts whenever I was homesick. I remember taking some of my favorite photos of my immediate family, best buddies, and my cat from the album to sleep away summer camp so I could still see everyone whenever I wanted. (I was that kid who had a hard time making it through sleep away camp.)
A few of the photos from my album were well composed, perfectly lit, photos taken for special events. Most of them were just snapshots taken in the moment around the house. They’re not award winning pieces of art, but they are so beautiful and precious to me because they’ve captured the people and places that I love.
I guess the takeaway from all of that is that you should just take the photo. You don’t have to wait for the perfect moment, have on the perfect outfit, or have the most aesthetically pleasing background. Your life is important and worth documenting all the time. I find that I have more regrets about the photos that I didn’t take than ones that I took and thought were ugly.
And then after you take the photo print them, put them on your walls, make a photo album. Don’t let them live on a silly little flash drive or the Cloud forever. There is something so special about holding a physical copy of your photos. I promise.
One of my goals for 2025 is to be better about documenting my own life. As a photographer my own photos often get put on the back burner. Stay tuned to see if I follow through!