Times Square November 1979 ー Photo by Dad. This was shot on his first SLR, a Yashica TL-Electro. He was really into photography and we have boxes and boxes of photos documenting simple moments, which together, compound themselves into a thing called life.
I've been helping my parents go through the house as they downsize and this part is my favorite ー even though it can be heavy when sitting with mom, sifting through precious, out-of-reach moments of the past like her reading a newspaper on the couch alongside her first born who is no longer here.
Moments matter. And not that everything needs to be captured, but I wonder what happens years from now when we realize most of what we have are byproducts of intentional family shoots, selfies, or awkwardly posed group shots taken by a stranger who caught us mid selfie and offered to lend a hand. What about the in between? The average person doesn't carry around a camera anymore because of cell phones. Many worry about the caption before taking the photo often deciding it's not insta-worthy, lost to a camera roll never to be seen again. Then there's those of us trying to be #present, so focused on unplugging that moments are no longer captured because we've evolved to a place of cell phones = bad.
But why not let memories live for themselves, why do they need to be captured? It's because most of these moments aren't remembered. Even when we look back at a photo and can point out the exact place and time, the moment itself wouldn't necessarily be remembered without the trigger of the image. I feel this way about a lot of my life and am grateful for the triggers even though they can be a mindf*ck.
So what's important about this photo besides the vintage yellow taxis that can't be replicated with a VSCO filter? The next photo in the roll was a side profile of mom, her beautiful kind face radiating warmth just as it does now but years younger and perhaps a bit warmer thanks to the white faux fur she pulled off so perfectly. Life barely beginning, untouched by its hardships. A moment I never knew because I wasn't born yet, but together, sitting with her in this moment, compound themselves into a thing called life.