This year I decided to start taking pictures again. Not the striving-for-perfection, edited-just-right, perfect-lighting, Canon Rebel photos; more of the everyday, candid, memory-making photos.

I brought back an old point-and-shoot camera, and on very special occasions, I splurge on a package of polaroid films (like on February 20th, when the cousins got together at Taylor’s apartment for the first time!).

where the photos started

When my sisters and I were small, Mom constantly had a camera on hand. First were the disposable cameras, then things got really fancy when she bought her first digital point-and-shoot. A playback feature? An SD card that could hold hundreds of photos? Difference settings for different lightings? Truly a dream come true!

Field trips, school projects, birthdays, snow forts, camping trips, new animals, girls’ nights, Christmas mornings, matching holiday dresses, and a lot of “just because” pictures. She had photos of it all, which were then made into scrapbooks and photo albums. And man, once you pull one of those off the shelf: you can’t stop looking through them. It’s like an addiction.

why the photos stopped

I’ve always had a very spiritual side to me, and one thing you learn in most spiritual practices is to be unattached to the past, unattached to the future, and live in the moment.

Honestly I agree with those statements; living in the moment is something that I strive to do more of, and I hold on to very little. My closet, personal space, and mind are constantly being cleaned out, making sure that no object or belief that I deem “useless” or “unhealthy” is taking up any precious space!

But in 2016, when I became a part of a spiritual organization, is when the memory-making pictures really fell away. Striving to be as “spiritual” as possible, I started to become detached from anything that I felt “tied” me to anything “earthly.” I saw it as silly to take photos of things that didn’t really matter, and to fill albums that just anchored you into the “realness” of this world.

i love looking at old photos

In the last couple years I’ve completely stepped away from that spiritual community and have embraced my own personal spirituality again (which is constantly evolving!), and I realized that there’s a big difference between living in/being attached to the past, and just simply enjoying the memories of everything you’ve experienced.

Because at the end of the day, I love looking back at old pictures. I love remembering how things used to be, and how they’ve changed. I love seeing the awkward phases my sisters and cousins and I have gone through. I love seeing new faces come into our family, and I love remembering old faces that have left us.

And when I’m 95 years old, I know I’m going to love looking back on these young-adult years of my life.

so this year i decided to take more pictures

Valentine’s Day, Dad’s 50th birthday, my 25th birthday, Mom’s 49th birthday…they’ve all been captured through the lens of a camera.

For Christmas 2023 my plan is to make photo albums of the year for Mom and Dad, Taylor, and Riley Mae (don’t worry, they already know all about it). I’m taking the time to take photos, order photos, and put them all in pretty albums, because in 20 years, I can almost guarantee that we’ll be just as addicted to flipping through photos from 2023, as we are to flipping through photos from 2003.