Why It’s Important to Capture photos at All Stages of Your Life

Recently I was going through my photo collection, and I realized that I had absolutely zero up to date photos of my parents and grandparents. It made me sad, because I’m starting to notice they’re aging and realizing how fleeting time is. As someone that loves picking up a camera, I was kind of surprised that I had let this happen. Then and there I really made the decision to change that. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of photos so that in years to come I could look back and remember my parents the way that they are right now.

I think its easy to get caught up in feeling like some stages of our lives aren’t worthy of capturing. We get busy, life gets stressful, kids, work, and other responsibilities take up our time. In the middle of it all we get older, and that seems to be such a taboo topic in our current society. Most people don’t want to see the physical proof of aging, and they sure don’t want it to be captured in a camera. So we start to shy away from the camera, because we feel as though if we aren’t in our 20s and at our prime, we aren’t worthy of capturing that stage of our life.

What people fail to realize is there is so much beauty aging, and though the circumstances that can arise with growing in life can be hard and feel unworthy of capturing, they are absolutely worthy. The journey you take in life makes you who you are, and photographs can be good reminders for what we were going through and feeling at the time that they were taken. Not to relive the hurt or struggle later, but to see the growth and remember just how much things change with time.

I love seeing my family members in their glory days, before me and when their lives were so different. But I also want memories to be captured of the people that I’ve grown up seeing, who they I know them to be and who they continue to evolve to be as we go through life together. Because I know that one day my memory won’t be enough, and generations to come are also going to want to get a glimpse into what life was like for us all before they knew us.

So lately I’ve been rounding everyone up and not only casually snapping shots at family gatherings, but making sure that I capture beautiful portraits of them too. They’re usually simple and quick, but I already know how important they are. And for as uncomfortable as I am in front of the lens, I’ve been making sure that I’m including a few of myself as well. I know I’ll rediscover them again in a few years and be thankful that I did. And I’d like to encourage you to do the same. A 30 minute portrait session is worth the time stamp that it serves as for years to come. Don’t be afraid of the wrinkles or dark circles or few extra pounds. These things are part of being human, and vividly tell a story when we capture them on camera.