Frolicking about with my brother and cousins in Baguio

My mom and I were looking through old photos today.

Our family will be hosting this year's Cada Family reunion in Umingan, Pangasinan. That'll be more or less 100 adults and 50 or so kids (until high schoolers). One of the stuff we're going to do is show a not-so-formal slide presentation of photos from the previous years. Thus the photo hunt.

Looking through photos, as many probably already know, is fun. Okay, so it can get tiring at one point (especially if you're sifting through a hundred gazillion photos over the last 20 years) but it still triggers flashbacks, laughter, and exclamations of "Ack! Big 80s hair! Away, away!!!!"

Read full post...Admit it: you might not enjoy organizing photos, but looking at them (whether organized or no) is enjoyable (especially if you're in them).

I dunno what we were doing, but it looks like we were having fun

My mom and I enjoyed ourselves today. There were times when my mom would say, "Remember that photo of you and your brother and your cousin Tom skating in the park?" or something similar and equally detailed. And then I would go, "We went skating in the park?" But my mom would remember nearly each photo she took. We didn't find some photos at first, but when we finally unearthed them in the deep recesses of my room (I didn't even know it was there!) I was simply amazed at my mom's memory. Just amazing. And looking at them pictures gave me a really nostalgic feeling. (Mixed with wishful thinking that someday I would be as good a photographer as my mom is.)

Looking through those photos were awesome. Since we were looking at family photos, I was reminded of how great it is to have a family like mine. (It also made me feel slightly guilty that I still haven't fully mastered all the names of my many cousins and nieces and nephews).

Bubble fun with Tim and Sarah

There were some pictures that I didn't even remember existed. Some photos were long-lost and presently found. But, and let me quote from a previous post, lessons from a manual camera, "...every shot has a story. [E]very moment is a kodak (or agfa, fuji, whatever) moment."

Thursday, June 22, 2006

lessons from a manual camera

i've been spoiled by a digicam. really.

the first time i used a digicam, i couldn't understand why everyone was fascinated by it. first, the flash was way too bright for my liking. second, you MUST NOT move when taking, or posing for, a photo if you turn the flash off. and third, it's digital, so one small mistake of carelessly pressing the delete button will send your precious photo to oblivion.

but then, i grew to love the digicam. partly because of the numerous settings you can use, but mostly because you CAN delete photos if you didn't need them. amateur photographers need not worry, because "bad" photos can be deleted and forgotten.

but then, i was suddenly stuck with an old, jurassic manual camera that was actually older than me. seriously. i was suddenly scared of taking photos because i didn't want to "waste" the film.

but then, i realized...you can never really waste film (to some extent of course). i mean, even skewed shots, and even those that aren't centered, or those that were taken at the wrong angle... every shot has a story. every moment is a kodak (or agfa, fuji, whatever) moment.

why?because every moment is part of life. every second counts, so they say. so, therefore, no second does not count. every small, tiny, minute detail, when looked back on, carries a thousand memories, laughter, lessons and joy with it.

so, look through your old photos. sift through your negatives. examine "rejected" shots... and rediscover life.