Photography isn’t something that just makes up my Instagram or my Facebook page, it’s something that gives a special meaning to my daily life when I look back at moments that made me smile, laugh, or even just think. Since Snapchat has come out, I’ve found myself taking pictures of every jaw dropping chocolate mousse cake, and every artsy scenery of a sea of people hustling through Times Square with the sun setting behind the NYC cityscape, blindingly bright.

Look at that sunset

The colors make me feel warm

I need to snap it

We can vicariously live through pictures, in which we can forget the heartaches that are happening in the present, by looking back at heartwarming times. We rely on our baby pictures to imagine what we were like in our infantile years, because our memories can’t suffice to capture all of the remarkable things we’ve accomplished. Moments like taking our first steps after numerous falls and speaking our first words when we first learn to make sounds are things that we know we accomplished, yet things we can never remember. When I’m away from home for weeks at a time for college, seeing my baby sister making a funny face with her twinkling eyes on my phone wallpaper makes me forget about the stress that comes with being a college student. I know that one day my sister will look back and feel incredibly happy at the endless snapchats I have taken of her using dog filters so young, and the videos I have made of her first attempts at the ABCs. As a big sister of the cutest three year old and as a passionate photographer, you can imagine what my camera roll is filled with.

Turn around and smile

This moment is so precious

You’ll thank me one day

My sister is just one example of what makes me reach Matsuo Basho’s idea of escape, “Karumi,” as I look back at my photography for an escape from my burdens. I feel satisfaction, “Wabi,” when I look down to my pocket, take out my phone and go through my camera roll that is filled with the smiling faces of my happiest moments of me with my family and friends. Smiling ear to ear in pictures of Friday nights in NYC, I feel, “Sabi,” appreciation, for things as simple as incredible people in my life. We need to be happy with simplicity, which means being content with the moments in our lives that aren’t extraordinary, and photos remind me that there will be better days than today, if today doesn’t seem like a picture-worthy day.

Here is a photo

Of my happiest moment

Brooklyn bridge with you

When we are down, it’s important to think about the things that have made us beam with happiness, which are usually the people in our lives that have been there with us through our happiest moments. People make places, and photography lets us relive our experiences with incredible people.