life is a picture
What was your screen time this week? Did you exceed your limit like the rest of us? During the age of COVID, I feel like we’ve all been dependent on our devices so much more than usual, and that’s saying a lot considering we are the iGeneration and millennials. Due to quarantine and the fact that it is my senior year in college, I’ve noticed that I’ve been taking a lot more pictures than usual. I’m trying to preserve memories, while also having as much fun as the world is allowing right now. Having been very isolated in my own home away from my friends at school, I realized how much I missed the little moments. The times where me and my friends laugh so hard while studying or go for a late-night snack off campus. These are all the things I fear I’ll forget if I don’t capture them in pictures and videos.
If I didn’t have a camera to record the dumb stuff my friends and I do at midnight, what’s the point? These are supposedly some of the best years of my life; I wouldn’t want to forget the fun times forever.
Cameras hold much importance for anyone and everyone, in ways I sometimes forget about. From the time I learned to walk, up until now, they’ve shown to be very helpful. Being a part of Gen Z has given me the opportunity to have technology and devices throughout my childhood. I look back at old family photo albums and see memories only my parents have of me. I was too young to remember the first time I said a bad word, but sure enough, there’s a video of it deep in the attic. Precious moments like that wouldn’t be preserved otherwise. I’m sure my parents are pretty thankful for that, too. As my mom would say, my future wedding montage has a lot of great content to work with.
Cameras have changed the way we view our lives and the moments we live too. The candid photos Instagram models strive for were so effortless for our parents, who had no other motive but to remember the moment for what it was. What is now so forced and performative was once very “in the moment” and casual. People are longing for the ease pictures used to show, but sometimes, it’s not possible to recreate what once was.
Before I was at the age where I could have my very own cell phone, I was given a digital camera. The amount of excitement I had on my ninth birthday was incredible. I could now take as many pictures as I wanted, as long as my SD card had the space. The pictures were as random as it gets. No one, not even myself today, can replicate what my nine-year-old brain was wanting to capture forever; the possibilities were seemingly endless to my younger self. This is when I began to see the value in little things in life. I would take pictures of my little brother when he did anything remotely memorable. Playing dress up on a Wednesday afternoon? I’m sure there’s a picture to prove it.
Then came time to forget landlines and move on to the camera phone. Once I was lucky enough to get the iPhone 4 in junior high, so many more opportunities opened up for me. The best way to talk to friends was through Snapchat and Instagram; these apps were really starting to blow up for the pre-teens. Instead of racing to the desktop to get on Facebook or Yahoo messenger, we were now able to send random pictures to our friends for no apparent reason. This changed the way everyone was able to express themselves with this new use for the camera. Without this, there wouldn’t be as many embarrassing screenshots of myself on my friends’ iPods or iPhones at twelve years old. Those memories would be long gone by now (maybe for the better). Besides the photos of myself doing random things, this also helped me see life in another light. One of the first pictures I would consider very eye catching began with my iPhone 4. From there, that’s where it really showed to be an interest of mine that I will have for the rest of my life. It was a spiral from there. I was now actively searching for the beauty in my day and the bright colors on the horizon.
For high school graduation, I got my first real, professional quality digital camera. With that, I was able to capture things I would’ve never been able to before. This camera gave new purpose to taking pictures with better quality than my iPhone 4 could ever have. It began with the typical selfies and group photos of friends and developed into mostly sunsets and nature. I started looking for things that not everyone would pay attention to or be able to see in passing on a regular basis. I wanted to save the memories that were unique to the moment, like the clouds during a particular sunset. The event may never happen like that again in my lifetime, so I must save it forever through a picture. This way, I can post it for everyone else to experience, too. At this point, there are hundreds of cloud pictures that I’ve take, all unique to the weather and surroundings that day. From there, flowers began to look brighter, the crashing of water on a shore was more relaxing, and birds flying to their next destination was more intriguing.
This particular camera gave me the idea to start sharing my work more, too. I started an Instagram page (@forsyth_photos) specifically dedicated to my “more professional” pictures, excluding the typical selfies. This allowed anyone to see what I have seen through my lens more directly. Not being able to capture such crisp and special moments would have never encouraged me to make an account just for these pictures. I want others to understand the value a camera can give to our daily lives.
The more I was able to use my camera, the more I began to look for memory-worthy photos in my everyday life. As the iPhone progressed, so did its camera. Since I’m strictly an iPhone user, this allowed me to take better pictures anywhere I went, ensuring these moments would be saved at convenience; my other camera is significantly larger in size compared to my pocket-sized phone. The ease that came with this further encouraged my Instagram page to be sustained, without 6-month gaps between each post. When it comes to social media upkeep, I can get pretty lazy, but this allowed any pictures to be instantly added anywhere online. The more engaged my friends were with the pictures I shared, the more I posted, since I am now able to take good quality pictures anywhere I go.
Generally, the camera itself has showed to hold a great importance in my life. No matter what age, it is accessible for anyone. Those on social media have much more ease and access to sharing pictures, but even those who restrain from having an internet presence give pictures importance. Photo albums of grandma’s childhood are something that could’ve never been possible without the camera. It wouldn’t spark otherwise forgotten stories for her to tell me and my brother without the pictures as a kick starter.
Photography would’ve never been a possible hobby of mine if I didn’t have the access of a camera throughout my lifetime. I’ve began following other artistic accounts and discovered a love for art, photography, and expression. This opened up a whole new network for me to be a part of. Even if I don’t do this for a career or professionally, it’s still a great outlet for creativity.
Living without a camera would be detrimental to who I am as a person today. How else would I get to spend hours looking at old family photos to be able to tell me exactly what I looked like at 18 months old? Imagine No Facebook memories, no photo albums, no Christmas cards from distant relatives you’ve met only once. Life would be so much different. The visual aspect of a memory wouldn’t exist. All we would have are journal entries, written stories, or grandma’s faint memory of the summer of 1969.
