why are photographs important?
reason No.1 - our memories need help!
No matter how hard we try to recall people, events, places, our memories are not that reliable, especially as time passes. It’s not that we don’t try, it’s a scientific thing! And no matter how much we like to believe that we’ll remember things clearly, we often don’t. This is even more true when we think about our loved ones, those closest to us.
For example, can you remember how you looked 10 years ago? How have you changed? I have always been the one behind the camera and taken pictures of my family and I regret that now.
And what about our children, can you remember what they looked like 10, 5 or even 2 years ago! It’s so hard isn’t it?
Our memory can work pretty well in the short term but the more time goes by, the worse our memory for details can be. We can struggle to recall events, people or places or our memory starts to “creatively” fill in the gaps. And in particular, we don’t remember faces very well - apparently it’s because faces change so much that our memories only bother to recall the gist of what someone looks like, rather than any details. As far as our memory is concerned, as long as we recognise that person in the present moment, it’s job done! But in reality, faces change SO much over the years. Without my wedding photos, I’d barely remember how young my husband looked back then ;-)
the palest ink is better than the best memory
chinese proverb
So without some form of memory prompt, it is very hard to remember what people looked like with any kind of precision or certainty. And that’s why I love photographs so much, it’s like holding time in my hands. One photograph instantly triggers the memories in beautiful, glorious detail and we remember so much more detail.
When I think of my children, now in their late teens, I find it so hard to remember what they were like when they were little. But a photograph brings it all flooding back! I can remember everything about that moment captured in a photograph, not just them but the sights, sounds and scents.
Time flies by and we’re so busy keeping all the plates spinning that we don’t take the time out we should to create photographs that we will treasure.
My “babies” - these photographs were taken 4 short years ago, but without these, I can hardly recall how they looked in their early teens! With these pictures, memories are vivid and fresh - I can tell you exactly where we were, what we were doing, what time of year it was, what the weather was like and, most preciously, what they were like.
Best to make sure we always have beautiful photographs of ourselves and our family so that we never need to rely on our memories!
R xx