A photo records a story, tells an experience, evokes a memory, and contains emotions. It is such a small and ordinary paper, but it is worthy for me to collect. I always enjoy going through albums with my family in the New Year. Every time I go over the photo it feels like a travel back in time. It helps me remember the important moments in life. Every photo marks a point on the timeline of my life. Together they tell the story of me and my family.
When I was only 2 years old, I live in the countryside of China, the colored photograph was a new thing. It was popular in my hometown. At that time my mother is still young and energetic. Like other ladies at her age, she loves to go to the photo store to have her picture taken there. She even rent a camera to take photos at home. We had three large albums full of her photos. Photos of her in different clothes, hairstyles, and postures. Until now, I am still amazed by the amount of the photos she owns. As the only son of this beautiful woman, I also have a decent number of photos. Every year we would visit the photo store to take photos. I cannot count how many photos I own. I have photos of me at the park, friend’s house, birthday party and more. I was always the favorite child on both sides of my grandparent’s house therefore they also own a lot of my pictures.
Among all these photos my favor is the one I took with my grandpa at an amusement park. That was the first time I go to an amusement park. I still remember it took us three hours to travel there and we spent a night over the city. It was the happiest moment of my childhood. I was a naughty kid when I was young, always getting to fight with other kids and disobey my parent. Yet, grandpa always treated me with patient and enthusiasm. He is my favorite person. When I was 11 years old I moved to the United State with my parents. In the first two months we arrived, we heard bad news from China. My grandpa was diagnosed with lung cancer at its advanced stage. He passed away after one month. At that time, we were not able to return to the country, so I called him every day at the end of his life. I was angry at myself and my parents that we couldn’t go back to spend time with grandpa.
When I return to my country last year. I bring most of my photos out. Every time I saw that photo it reminds me of the joyful movements I had with my grandpa. This is a photo with such stories in it; a photo that took my mind back to ten years ago. This is such an ordinary and extraordinary photo, it taught me to cherish family.
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Hi Ray! Your story is very emotional and real! I can sense how adamant you are about these photos and I can tell how much they mean to you. I also enjoy looking through family photo albums. Not only can they bring back memories, but they can also give insight on the time before you were born. For example, you said your mother has a lot of pictures of her old hairstyle, clothing, etc. This is great insight on the past!
Hello Ray
I really enjoyed your blog post. Photographs are indeed amazing for immortalizing moments that we wish not to forget. Among my most valuable possessions is a group photo of my third grade class. This photo never fails in lifting my mood when I am down.
As a person who is always travelling I can definitely relate to this because I too, lost both of my grandfathers as well as my uncle while being unable to visit them. There’s something about seeing the photos from the loved ones you lost. It always makes you sad but with an aftertaste of happiness and I personally think that as more time passes, we start seeing the happy side of the memories in photographs more than the sad side.
Like they say old is gold photos are memories that have big impact on you they certainly come in handy when you miss those times or feel nostalgic about that time but they also show you how far you were gone through life it is a reminder that life is really short thanks for sharing
Photos are a great way to treasure loving memories of family and friends. I miss the times when photo albums where often used. A great place to store all of those prized memories. Phones are better because now we can store even more without the hassle of potentially losing a photo. Its amazing to see how a photo can evoke so much emotions.
Hello Ray! To begin with, the introduction was very attention-grabbing. The description of what a photo is and you relating it with your own experience gave me a good idea of what the rest of the story will be about photos. Once I read the entire story, I understood which picture meant to you the most and it was the picture with your grandfather. Even though your grandpa had died, the picture reminded you of so many stories, and you have learned to value and cherish these pictures. Overall, the story was very personal to you, which made it even more emotional, and together with the well-put paragraphs, you had me hooked on till the end.