Photography allows us to communicate about ourselves to future generations. To tell them who we were and how we lived. It’s the closest thing to a time machine that we have.
You see the results of those important moments in the older photographs you have inherited from the family members of your past. You may think you know your mom or grandpa, until you see a picture of them when they were young. How many times were you surprised by seeing pictures of your relatives doing things that went counter to the personality that you came to know? Grandma in her cheerleading outfit, or your shy uncle singing in a choral performance?
As time goes on, and our personalities change, we have the opportunity to be many different people. Our pictures can help us remember those times for us, and can project those parts of our personality forward to people who we may never meet.
The earliest photographic portraits are from the 1840s. You may have some of those early portraits in your family photo archive. Back then, you may have only had your picture taken once in your lifetime. Even if you only have one picture from several generations back, that is enough to often see familial resemblances. Even if you don’t know anything about that ancestor beside their name, you will probably project personality traits based on who of your living relatives they resemble.
In the 1840s, people didn’t have generations of photographs to look back at. They had to imagine what affect photography would have in the world of the future. Now we are here and we can see what a gift it is to be able to see the face of an ancestor who lived a hundred years before we were born.
People who will never know you will see pictures of you. Through the entirety of the pictures you take and star in, people who are not yet born will get to know a bit about your personality and your values.
The pictures you take now will outlive you, provided you care for them. Make sure your future relatives have the chance to get to know you and start protecting your memories now.
