Why I Am Taking More Photos
I want to remember my life before AI gets ahold of it.
We have our next creativity salon on Tuesday for paid subscribers! If you’d like a space of facilitated creative reflection to help spark some more connection and expression in your life, then make sure to join. Our first month of salons in June were so impactful — upgrade to paid to join the next one.
Also, if you’re reading this in your inbox, giving it a like or comment on Substack would go a long way in helping it reach more readers!
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a camera in my hand. When our family first got a digital camera, it became my digital camera.
On our first family trip to Europe in 2005, the first thing I petitioned for was a camera I could use to capture our memories. I took hundreds of photos that I meticulously organized into labelled photo albums at the age of 12.
Now, when I carry my Fujifilm x100vi with me everywhere I go, and when kids in my life ask me if they can take a picture, I immediately always say yes. I prep the settings for them, and I put the leather strap around their necks and show them where to look, and the brown shutter to push to take photos. Their parents protest, and look warily at us when I insist. Each and every time, as I see them look through the shutter or at the screen as they take their photos, I am smiling so big, and so are they.
Photos and photography will be my greatest legacy.
When I heard Bad Bunny’s DtMF (DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS) last year, and learned the translation, I should take more photos, and the corresponding TikTok videos of folks posting videos and photos of their lost loved ones, I cried repeatedly, and more deeply understood why I do what I do.
This week we are at a family wedding, it’s one I was nervous to attend. Navigating infertility, and learning how to say aloud, ‘I had a complication post-my major abdominal surgery, meaning I would need another surgery. I don’t have the capacity to consider doing that to my body again, so we are pursuing surrogacy,’ proved to be incredibly daunting.
That on top of this being our first family wedding since my cousin Mandy passed suddenly of breast cancer last year, and the grief and complications that come from complex family dynamics after major trauma, made saying yes to being here really really hard.
But here I am.
And here Mitch and I are taking more photos.
My gift to my loved ones is documenting and capturing our day to day with an artist’s eye and with discretion. My camera is an extension of me, and it means others can truly be themselves with me, and with it. This leads to some people’s favourite photos being captured, and memories being immortalized (if my iCloud subscription indeed continues to be paid for by my estate in the future, lol).
After every hang out, I create a shared photo album, sort through the photos we took within hours of seeing our people or the event we just attended, and I share the album with everyone who was there. I have albums that are dedicated to friends groups, or people we love and see often that just keep getting more and more full.
My legacy will be these photos.
When Mandy died, what I knew for certain is that I had endless photos and so many videos of our life together. I was the annoying little cousin to her that would always snap away… but when it came down to the hardest time of our lives, those photos and videos were part of her living legacy.
We can’t get more photos with her now, but we can cherish the one’s we chose to capture.
So at this family wedding, I am chronicling passionately. My people, my family, our love, our joy, our exhaustion, our frustration, and our celebration.
The groom, my cousin, came up to us at one of the wedding events and said, “Thank you for taking these photos, I know coming here was really hard for you, and I am so grateful you’re here, and taking these photos for all of us.”
We need to take more photos. We need to hold each other’s images so we never regret not having more, because truth be told, it will still never be enough.
So take those photos.
Organize them, catalogue them, share them.
Let how you see and love your people be cherished and commemorated through your lens.
Taking Photos Increases Enjoyment
In a 2016 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers conducted nine studies to see how photo taking impacts assessments of experiences. What they learned was that in comparison to not taking photos, taking photos enables people to be more engaged in the moment, thus increasing their enjoyment of that positive experience.
Specifically, increased engagement was noted from what people focused on as they were taking photos. It enabled participants to pay even more attention to what they were looking at, for example parts of a museum exhibit. Tracking the subject or key parts of the scene in front of them proved to be what increased engagement vs. the mechanics of photo taking itself.
Now there are things to note, if we are overly intrusive when taking photos, it can lead to a more negative experience, and the benefits to taking photos decreases if an experience is a negative one overall.
This research was very validating as someone who finds photography both therapeutic and joyful. The study itself also referred to the downstream impacts on memory (being able to refer back to the moments), but the subjects of part of the study actually weren’t given access to the photos themselves, so the very act of taking them without being able to go back to them even had the results listed above.
Now, I do have access to all the photos I’ve taken, and when I don’t want to be on social media, I do love to look at the daily featured photos roll up that my iPhone has curated for me. I have 18 years of life in my iCloud account, and those memories are what I hold so dearly.
I struggle to remember a lot of my childhood due to trauma and gaps in memory, so perhaps I turned to photography as a way to remember. Whatever reason younger me decided to choose a camera as her best friend, I am grateful.
These moments, captured through photos, are what keep me surrounded by love (as I look at all the photos I’ve printed of our life over the years covering the walls of my office). These photos are my evidence of a life well lived and loved.
Your Weekly Prompt
Take a beat and write and reflect on the following, in your notes app, in the comments, or by hand in your journal:
How has taking photos impacted your life and community? What are some of your favourite photos you’ve taken, or memories you’re grateful you captured?
I can’t wait to dive in together in the comments, also if you’re seeing this in your inbox, giving it a like would go a long way in helping reach more readers!
Through My Lens
Writing Through Time
I am low key obsessed with Vivian Maier’s story.
Maier was a professional nanny for 40 years, and she took over 150,000 photographs throughout her life. These photographs were discovered after John Maloof, a Chicago real estate agent, bought her storage lockers (that she could no longer afford to maintain two years before her death — why do so many artist’s only get their dues later in life or posthumously!), and discovered so many of her undeveloped rolls of film, and photographs stashed in suitcases.
I stumbled upon her work and story a few years ago, and was engrossed in her beautiful street photography and the way she saw the world. As I mentioned above, the attention to detail, and full engagement in a moment that photography can require is evident in her works. I’ve spent hours going through her digital archive, and can’t wait to see her works in person one day.
I chose Maier this week because journaling can take many forms! From the written work to photography, how we engage with chronicling our lives can look so different. It also can just be yours. Maier chronicled the world around her, and her life, for no one but herself. Her talent is now out there for the world to see, but for her creative expression, it was enough to just be hers during her lifetime (or so I romantically project onto her).
Dive into her work here, and let me know if it moves you too!
Join Our Monthly Salons!
The June salons were a hit! Our members were able to uncover and commit to goals to unlock their current callings and begin following through on the plans they’ve felt overwhelmed by, or too scared to go for.
Don’t miss out on joining us for the summer salons!
Creativity Salon: Tuesday, July 15th at 1 pm EST
Strategy Salon: Tuesday, July 22nd, 1 pm EST
Want to know more?
I lead twice a month gatherings for $80 a year for paid subscribers to support you in staying consistent with your creativity, and building the strategies and plans to unlock your next steps to bring your goals to life. Through monthly creativity salons and strategy salons you will see your goals come to life as we stay accountable together.
For $80/year (or $8/month) you’ll join me on Zoom for:
a monthly Creativity Salon to reflect on that month’s creative goals, and reconnect to our creativity and vision and stay accountable for what you want to make and release to the world.
a monthly Strategy Salon to support your alignment with upcoming plans for your art, life, health, and work where I will lead you through my monthly planning framework I have been using for years to stay aligned and on track.
I usually exclusively facilitate workshops and gatherings with high impact thinkers and doers through large organizations and events, but I wanted to make them more accessible for you! I love creating a shared space for creativity, growth and action, and being able to offer these salons in this way is my favourite way to give back to our community. I can’t wait to see you in the upcoming salons!
Upgrade to paid to join our creativity and accountability community to gather twice a month and bring your goals to life!
Let’s Work Together
There are two additional ways we can collaborate, one is through coaching, and the other, by inviting me in to speak to your team, conference, or organization about well-being, resilience, leadership, and productivity. I’ve worked with private sector organizations, federal governments, and non-profits, including: the Government of Canada, HP, Footlocker, Teach for America, Publicis, Wagepoint, and more. Reach out, and learn more here.
If you're an executive, entrepreneur, creative, or leader craving clarity, growth, and grounded support, let’s work together. I offer 1:1 coaching to help you scale your revenue, amplify your impact, protect your well-being, and build a life that actually feels good to live.
With past clients I’ve helped them through negotiations to double their salaries, supported them as they fundraised successful rounds for their companies, helped them launch successful podcasts and speaking careers, and strategized and supported them as they moved toward their ideal lives to find more grounding and power in their current seasons of life.
I can’t wait to hear from you next.
Apply to coach with me here. I am currently nearly at a full roster, so apply to get in before we launch the waitlist!
This week’s prompt, I’d love to hear what comes up for you!
How has taking photos impacted your life and community? What are some of your favourite photos you’ve taken, or memories you’re grateful you captured?
Are you known as a the photo taker of the group? If you’re not, how do you feel about the people who are?