Memory is something that is different for each and every person, but equally important for everyone. We all have different moments in time that we deem important throughout our lives, but we all want to be able to remember these moments like we were just in them. I have had a hard time with that over the course of my life, and then I picked up a camera. Memory photography is something incredibly special, and creates this imprint of a moment that can now be called to the front of my mind whenever I see a photo of it. These are some tips and tricks I’ve picked up over the years making photos that have helped me to remember my life.

Table of Contents

Moments

As one of my favorite artists Zach Bryan once wrote in a song “years are just moments in a great big pile”, time is this collection of moments that structure our memories that matter the most. Being able to recollect on a moment in time, where I was standing, who I was with, the smells, and the sounds is something I often find very incomplete, and very imperfect. Memories are inherently imperfect however, there is a great way to sharpen these memories. Memory photography is what I call this way I’ve been able to find to capture these moments and come back to them whenever I want to.

Use Photography to capture moments

Memory as a moment with friends
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Photography has been an incredible tool for me to remember these moments. When I take an image I freeze a moment forever, stop time in a frame that I can look back to. I may never see the way the clouds touch a mountaintop again, there may never be a picture of my grandparents on a boat again. These moments are unique and special, these images allow me to stop these moments from slipping through my fingertips. Moments are naturally fleeting, photography serves as a way of stopping them, and leaving an artifact to come back to.

Looking back on images

I think of photos I make as these pieces in a museum, kind of like a time capsule. Each one holding a moment, and putting it on display for people to step into. Memory photography allows for this teleportation back into these memories. How far people can look into these moments depends on their level of expertise, I can usually dive in deeply and remember where I was standing when I made the image, others who were there with me might remember the conversations we had that night, and someone uninvolved in the moment will be able to just appreciate its beauty. This layer of complexity in photographs is what made me fall so deeply in love with the craft, I really think this art form is the best one.

Photograph intentionally

Not all images bring me back to a moment. Photographing too much is something that many people including myself fall into. Intentionality in your photography is what will bring memories to life. This means slowing it down, and not just snapping away meaningless frames that are detached from the moment they freeze in time. Slowing down and taking your time when making photos creates that beautiful bond between a moment in time and your memory. Johnny Harris made a YouTube video on the subject, which I think conveys the message incredibly well. Harris touches on a few things here that I find very interesting the first being deleting photos. We take too many images, so we have to get rid of the ones that “don’t trigger anything in your brain” these images could be moments that don’t need to be remembered, or too many photos of one moment. This in combination with one of his other big topics that we focus more on visuals and less on the other senses when taking an image make for an interesting strategy to remember life. Taking only a few intentional images of a place, and then living without the camera for a while and experiencing where you are and who you’re with fully, so that the images can bring you back to that wonderful experience.

Slowness and Analog

In the digital age I find that speed is valued over everything, and this can really leave the special things in life by the wayside. What I mean is that when we try to rush through anything we find ourselves just brushing over moments, some mundane and repeated actions everyday, but others have the potential to create a memory. Photography is not exempt from this, in the digital age we are able to speed through things, and brush past experiences. When making a photograph slowness is what creates the separation from the constant flow of life, to the stillness of a moment captured in an image. Without slowness memory photography won’t occur, fast paced environments hinder it greatly. This is where I started to move into analog photography, the older process of analog stops this pace and really makes you appreciate moments as they come into and out of life. Slowing down is something analog (or film) photography forces everyone to do. I have to look for a composition, then choose the type of film I would like to use for the next 36 images I take, then load it, then meter my exposure, then set my camera, and then I have to make sure I compose the image perfectly, and finally I can snap a photo. Taking so long to do something was incredibly uncomfortable at first, but after getting used to it I became addicted. This act of slowing down and thinking about everything brings me so much closer to the moment in front of me. Instead of picking up a camera and blasting off frames, I have to stop and slow down. After shooting with film I find that I try to do everything slower, being more and more careful to live slowly.

imperfect memory photography
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Film Is Imperfect

Memories are imperfect things. I remember beautiful words spoken by close friends, but I only remember a sentence or so not the whole conversation. Imperfection is what memories are, and film is also imperfect, connecting it to the memory so much more. Film photography often has light leaks, missed exposure, and grainy images, but I always find these out of focus images are the ones that put me right back into the moment. An imperfect capture of an imperfect moment is this time machine that makes sure the things that matter become a memory. Memory Photography is this tool I’m so incredibly grateful for to remember my life, and I hope it can help you to remember yours as well.

In Summary

Memory is so incredibly important, keeping the best moments in life stored away to come back to is something I have been striving for for a while and photography seems to be the perfect tool to do it. Moments are the most important things in life, and stopping to capture these fleeting minutes is something that can truly help to preserve them. Capturing photographs at important times creates a time capsule to look back on the best moments in life, a capsule to go back to moments where you felt something. The only way to do this is to photograph things intentionally, be in the moment and capture it in a way that doesn’t distract, but in a way that will later enhance the moment’s beauty. Slowing down is incredibly important in memory photography, make sure to stop and appreciate where you are and who is there with you. Analog methods of creating images is a great help to slow things down, but it is not necessary. Imperfection in analog is also something I’ve found to greatly aid in my memory of moments, memories are imperfect so looking into an imperfect version of them instantly brings that time back to me. All in all photographing moments is something incredibly important to remembering life, and remembering the important moments in life might be the most important thing there is in life.