Photography

Photography is a way for me to remember moments in time. I'll go from having no recollection of that time in place, but once I have a picture of it I can remember everything that was happening during those few minutes.

Previously I had no idea that I wasn't remembering things. It wasn't until one day, one of my friends brought up something that we had done and I had no memory of it... Even though it only happened a week ago. I started to catch on that things I had done with people were completely gone from my memory.

These are pictures from moments in time that I captured and will continue to remember every time I see these photos.

Seaside, Oregon - July 18, 2022

I was on a trip with my family down to Salem Oregon to see my Uncle and Aunty but prior to going to Salem, we stopped at Seaside for a couple days. This is a small town we had been before with our Uncle and Aunty so it's become a main stop when planning a visit to see them. This was day 2 of being at Seaside; day 1 was a pretty underwhelming sunset with it being grey and cloudy. I noticed that I was a clear sunset so I grabbed my camera and walked down to the beach for some photos. I was taking silhouette pictures of people playing Volleyball and a couple sitting in the sand at one point, as well as a corgi running up and down the beach. The sun was starting to get lower to the horizon before I noticed a big family with a tent set up quite far down the beach. I lined myself up pretty far up the beach to capture them with the sun going behind them. This isn't something I had done before so I was mostly winging it. I felt pretty awkward taking pictures of this random family because I had no idea who they were or if someone would ask me what I was doing. About 5 minutes goes by and I've taken a few photos of them all standing and sitting on the beach with the sun setting behind them and I start looking through the pictures I've taken. I come across this one and immediately I'm thinking "Wow this is super pretty". I'm pondering to myself whether I should walk up to the family and see if they'd like a copy of the picture or not (I'm super introverted so this is a pretty tough decision for me)... I gather up the courage and start exporting the picture to my phone to show them. As I'm walking their direction, I'm thinking back to when I first started looking into photography and watching tons of YouTube videos on it. "How did they start the conversation with people" is what I'm thinking in my head. Going over different scenarios, worst case ones mostly. I finally get to the family and the I make contact with guy wearing the baseball cap. "Hey, this is a little odd but I thought you guys looked really cool with the sunset behind you. I took this really pretty picture and was wondering if you guys would like a copy of it." My hearts racing, no idea how this guy I've never met is going to react. He grabs my phone to look at the picture and immediately looks shocked and starts showing everyone else that's with him. "Wow! Did you guys see this picture this guy took!?". "Oh my god he's happy!" I'm thinking to myself. He's super joyful and asks me if I've got a logo or something. Turns out that they own a printing company and wanted to make me a shirt of sorts with my logo on it in return for the picture. Unfortunately I don't have a logo but I was super relieved to hear that they liked the picture. I ended up getting their email and sending them the picture and saying goodbye to them.

This was the first interaction I've had taking someone's picture like this and going up to them and seeing if they'd like a copy. It wasn't an easy thing for me to do, being quite introverted and all. But it's a memory I'll never forget now and it was such a good time getting to talk with them and seeing how happy they were.

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