Immortalizing the Moment

Mark's Birthday Celebration.
Credits: Mark

 “Pictures immortalize the moment.” I heard this from one of my best homies, Mark, during one of our many drinking sessions with his cousin, Choi, who’s also one of my best homies from work. At that time, Mark’s girl had just bought him a camera as a birthday gift, and he was going on about how special cameras are. As always, he sounded all excited, explaining how this device could capture and immortalize the moment.

Now, I’m not much of a photo guy. I don’t usually take a lot of pictures or videos because, for me, it feels like I'd be missing out on the experience. When I’m at a concert or a party, the thing that I never wanted to do is to be glued to my phone screen, snapping pics and vids. The reason for that is because I feel like I’d miss out on all the fun stuff if I spent too much time behind the camera instead of just soaking in the moment.

That is why I find it silly and stupid whenever I see people with their phones up, recording full-length videos of a concert by their favorite artist or band. Like, bruv, someone else is probably already covering the event—probably with much better production quality, too, and they’ll release it as well. What’s wrong with taking a couple of pictures or snapping some video clips while still being able to enjoy the moment? That’s how you have fun!

Mama and Papa have these photo albums at home. Some of the photos have faded over time, but most are still visible, and it’s really heartwarming to see their faces in their youth. They always tell us stories about those moments—where they were, what happened—and as a kid, I didn’t really understand why they talked about it with so much enthusiasm. But now I understand. Those pictures don’t just capture a moment—they bring back the memories and the feelings they had when they lived it.

After hearing Mark talk about cameras and pictures, I realized I’d been so focused on criticizing people for taking photos that I forgotten how pictures can actually be fossils of memories—little time capsules that can take me back to those fun moments I experienced. Our parents know this well. That’s why they always seem to take awkward pictures of us when we were young that we used to hate. Now we look back on them with a smile. There were times recently when I thought, "I should've taken more pictures when I went there" while going through my phone's gallery or when Facebook notified me of a memory. Don’t be like me.

If you’re lucky enough to have a phone with a camera, don’t feel insecure if it isn’t as clear as the latest iPhone. Take pictures. Shoot videos. So that you’ll have something to look back on. Something that will remind you of the good stuff you did and the good times you had.

"I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days..." - Andy Bernard (Ed Helms)

x, myle.