The Importance of Taking Photos

Posted March 6, 2013 at 4:00 pm in ballet, childhood, memories, San Francisco Bay Area

Sitting around, watching facebook’s stream-of-consciousness updates usually serves to keep us grounded in the moment. Still, every so often, something will pop up that throws us far back into the past, and remind us of long dormant memories. This 90s gem is a prime example.

For a few short years in preschool and elementary school, I took ballet. I was stalking a friend’s facebook timeline last week, and someone had posted this photo (in all its unblurred glory – I wanted to protect everyone else’s identities)! The original poster had no reason to know I was also in this photo – I was in a younger class, but yes, that is me as a raindrop. Out of the 5 girls in a row in blue, I am the middle (the one kid I didn’t blur), a particularly flamboyant, and overly showy springtime raindrop. If you squint, you can see that most of my counterparts were pretty bored. In short, I’ve clearly been awesome since childhood.

But really, what I see when I look at this photograph, is everything that isn’t there. I see tiny me, running around backstage moments before I was supposed to get onstage, crying because my wrist elastic had snapped and everything was going to be absolutely ruined if, God forbid, I (a tiny insignificant raindrop) went on without my wristband. I also remember glimpses of waiting to get my make-up done before the show, and getting the obligatory flowers from friends and family after the show. Wristband or no, I was the star in their eyes.

My boyfriend likes to complain that he never remembers anything exists until he looks at it, and what he hits upon when he says this is essentially true for everyone. Without objects to hold your associations, your memories, are you really going to remember that cup of coffee you had with a friend a year ago? And that’s fine, maybe that cup of coffee wasn’t all that important or tasted terrible, but what I do know is that for couples that are always telling me, “My wedding day was just a complete blur, thank goodness you were there!” (i.e. most of my couples!), photos are of the utmost importance. Like the months of preparation for my ballet recitals, and the utter chaos on the day of the performance, your weddings are meticulously planned, and then speed by in a short 12 hours or less!

A lot of people talk about “capturing the moment” in photography, but it’s about more than *the* moment. As a third-party observer (with privileges! you guys know I love each and every one of you, right?), I can capture the location, the details, and the moments you don’t see – the things that are going to bring you back to your awesome wedding years later. Don’t underestimate the power of a photo to bring you right back to your gorgeous, fun wedding years after the moments have passed.

A couple weeks after your wedding, you might see a photo of your first dance and think, “I was so nervous, I’m glad I didn’t fall on my face!” But, ten years from now, you’ll think, “Oh god, why did I think *that* shade was flattering on my wedding party?!” And, really, my hope is that 30 years from now, you look at your photos and see the beginning of your marriage to the most wonderful person in the world.

Happy Wednesday, y’all, thanks for reading! 🙂