You need to take photos of everything. Now I know there is such a thing as being camera shy, or not wearing the right dress or not being at your ideal weight. This list can go on and on. Most of us have a list like this. If the excuses, yes they are excuses, mentioned weren’t enough there’s another one being thrown in the mix lately. The one where the photos have to be ideal for Instagram. Do I get it? Yes. Do I agree? Maybe. In all this, what happened to taking photos for you to look back on who you used to be? What you used to wear? What happened to the fact that photos are memories?
The Camera Shy Person
I, myself, used to be really camera shy. Only on instances where I felt that I looked my very best would I allow myself to be photographed. As most people I assume. This was until I was looking at the photos of my early teens and realized they were mostly vacation photos. No candid photos. Well there were, I just wasn’t in them. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being most comfortable behind the camera. But don’t you want to remember what you were wearing? Or what questionable decisions you used to make with your hair? Or how you look when you’re laughing uncontrollably?
Don’t forget to also celebrate your life.
#1 Reason Why You Should Snap That Pic
Photos will remain, when the moments are gone. Yes there are a million maybe valid reasons to not get in front of the camera. Perhaps not all of them are excuses, I’ll give you that. Not feeling comfortable in your own skin, accidents, trying to lose weight just to name a few. I understand. Even though in those moments you don’t feel your very best, they are still part of your story. It’s still worthy of being remembered, even if it is a dark chapter. Why? Because one day when you are feeling at your absolute best you have evidence of where you came from. You’ll have evidence of progress.
Don’t you want that? Don’t you want some kind of evidence of where you came from? I know it may seem weird to think about your golden days, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t. At the end of the story don’t you want to be able to physically look back at all that has happened? I have spoken to so many people that are more than twice my age and all say the same thing. They might not remember exactly but the pictures always bring them back to the moment. Isn’t that something you want for yourself at their age of 60, 70, 80 and yes even 90?!
Why You Shouldn’t Solely Take Photos For The Gram
Then there’s the craze to only take pictures for the gram. Why?! Yes I understand it’s fun and the likes and all that, but you do know you’re still going to have those pictures way beyond the era of Instagram? Well you do. There’s nothing wrong with having perfectly lit and angled photos, but letting what the ‘’likers’’ determine is a great photo become your memories has every potential of stealing your real memories. Going to throw in a very unpopular opinion but all photos are instagrammable photos. Why? Because a photo is what is shared on the gram. Hence that a photo is a photo it can be shared. Don’t hate me, I get the whole perfect gram photo, I do, I too am guilty of it. I fully admit.
I just came to realize that it is fun to have photos where I question where I’m looking at or how my arm is placed (seriously one of the photos depicted above has my arm in a way that I wouldn’t dare do now because a trip to the ER is guaranteed). Do I take them on purpose? No, of course not. It’s just life, my life, your life.
Don’t start living through the lens though!
Am I heavily encouraging you to capture the moment? Yes, yes I am. Am I heavily encouraging you to watch the world through the lens of your camera? No, no I am not. I truly believe capturing a moment is a great idea. However the concept of capturing the moment, I am not too sure about unless you work as a photographer. Then it is your job to capture the moment.
When you are just living life and creating memories, the photos should be about that. About capturing the memory and not the moment. Often times moments are gone by the time you actively think about them. But the memory can still be captured.
Even though the above is true this is not your ticket to glue your phone and/or camera to a hand to make sure you at least capture the memory since the moment has passed. Doing it like that will cause you to miss the moment and the memory!
There’s a balance to be found in taking photos and enjoying the moment. It’s a realization that the memory that the photo taken has holds the moments as well. This is true for almost all photos by the way. You’ll remember the moment based on the things you see in the photo that was actually taken.
Final pitch to convince you
You know, it’s fun to sit around on the couch trying to recreate those poses you have no idea how you did them in the first place. As we get older memories sometimes become vague. Having photos is then an ideal way to refresh those memories. To have a lovely afternoon of ‘’remember when..’’, a walk down memory lane. Life rushes by, it really does. The photos help us to remember what we were doing during the rushing. So don’t delete all the questionable photos. Perhaps one day, in the (far/near) future you’ll have a good laugh about them. Also, you always have a choice with who that laugh is.. (in case you missed the point: you don’t need to upload them to gram to have that laugh..)
Don’t you think the you 5 years from today would want to know what your life looked like? Even if it’s not the best of times?
Love,
DCPR.
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