There hasn’t been quite anything quite like the photograph in all of time. One little object can hold either the most extreme disdain or the most cherished memory.

 

 

It seems that we are getting away from physical handheld photographs since everything has gone digital these days, but in my opinion, there is nothing like holding a picture in your hands and studying it.

 

From the moment that a photograph is taken, it can elicit quite a variety of responses. From the kids that won’t stand still and smile, to the last picture you know you will be taking of your loved one before they leave this earth, to the five generations that try to squeeze the tiny frame because you don’t know if you’ll ever all be together again, to the mom trying to catch every month of growth in her little one’s first year because she knows it will go by in the blink of an eye.

 

Photographs have a life of their own. From displaying them on the mantle in frames that collect dust, to shoe boxes that line the shelf of the closet. From photo albums that get pulled out every so often, to ripped up shreds that end up in the wastebasket. Photographs can represent joy, pain, longing, regret, anger, nostalgia, grief, laughter, and history. Children who laugh at what they used to look like, and comments like, “Mom, why did you dress me like that?!” Families who gather around the table after they have buried their loved one just trying to grasp every memory they can with a longing to return to that moment in time that now is etched on a 4×6 piece of glossy paper.  School pictures that moms forgot to cut and pass out, to cracked brown and white pictures that you may be afraid to touch lest it break apart and the memory will be gone forever.

 

Photographs are emotional. For some, it is the only link they have to a parent they never knew, and they flip through the small pile hoping to discover something in the person’s hands, smile, eyes that will help them find their own identity. For some, it’s a reminder of a relationship that was a promise of forever, but now just stands as a reminder that sometimes promises are never kept. For some, it is a reminder of how far they have come from overcoming what once was – addiction, overeating, loneliness.

 

Some cherish their photographs.

Some hide their photographs.

 

The saying, “A picture says a thousand words” certainly is the truth. For in it, they tell the stories of a lifetime and a life yet to be lived.

 

I have an odd obsession with photographs. I find they are better than a storybook sometimes because I like to try to find what the story is saying in the picture and pretend what it would be like if the picture came alive. The awkwardness, the love, the silliness, what’s in their eyes tells me so many things.

 

I believe a photographer has a true gift. They understand all of these things and they attempt to capture the soul more than just the smile. You know it when you see it.

 

Elliott Erwitt says, “The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.” Nothing could be truer.

 

Maybe it’s time you pull out some photographs today and spend some time with them.