Eloquent changes, unseen beauty, unexpressed thoughts, and lost ideas of the world captured by an extension of my own eyes and heart: a camera. A simple device of metal and plastic and lenses, but it captures more than just an image. A camera gives form to those abstract parts of life with its photographs that manage to grasp and communicate memories, emotions, dreams, and the complex soul of the photographer.
I received my first camera at the age of 6. One of those cheap, plastic, nearly indestructible film cameras that parents buy for their kids. I took it with me on our trip through southern California, with it I captured the images I wanted to remember, the simple images a child finds wonder in. The camera actually did have one conqueror: the salt water of the Pacific Ocean, but miraculously, the water spared the majority of the film. I still have some of those first photographs, the old memories and images important to a young girl. I may no longer remember why I wanted a picture of the sand or a simple stretch of ocean, but those photographs remind me of the awe a young child sees in every part of the world. In a way, they send me back to that time of pure youthful joy. They hold memories, smiles, and the soul of a young child. The soul of a young photographer, who saw beauty in everything.
I believe that loving photography connects to personality type, as I have always been incredibly shy. Taking pictures allows me to see the world with a lens in front of my face, so the world never sees me but I can still see the world. My eyes often cloud reality and I cannot always see the truth, but pictures allow me to see the beauty my eyes cannot. Pictures hold onto a past I cannot always remember, and they always tell their stories truthfully. Of course, pictures capture my most important events, the people I meet, and the places I go. But a photograph does more than that. It encompasses a journey, tells a story, and gives me something to hold on to by providing a concrete form to the intangible feelings I cannot always grasp on my own.
The cliché says “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Personally, I believe that words remain the strongest and most valuable tool that humans possess. Humans use words to tell stories, make amends, and connect with one another. As a writer, I treasure words and choose each one carefully to craft a story or convey a feeling. But as a photographer, I know words cannot successfully communicate everything. How can one describe a soul, the way that the light reflects on the water so perfectly, the way the sky slowly changes from day to night? Words cannot. A photograph, however, can capture soul. It can capture what really matters: the emotions during one fleeting moment of time, laughs and tears you no longer remember, parts of life you forgot were ever important to you, dreams you lost, pieces of your soul. A camera has the unique ability to record the journey and changes of life and the world we often miss seeing. It has an eye of its own, holding memories and images we do not yet know we want to keep.
I do not always take pictures of beautiful vistas or important people. But the pictures I take of everyday life remind me of the simple beauties that make life wonderful. My camera holds my soul, and captures what my eyes cannot: the subtle yet eloquent changes of the world, the journey of a life slowly passing by, the feelings I run away from. Above all, it holds the power I do not always have to capture and contain my soul. I will continue to use my camera to capture photographs that contain more than an image; I will use its power to capture heart, soul, and beauty that my eyes alone cannot see.
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