Capturing Moments

As an 18 year old, I have been fortunate to grow up surrounded by changing technology, and this allowed me to develop my love for photography. Capturing moments in time is beautiful to me, and I always enjoy being able to look back on the memories that are encaptured with them. Growing up, taking photos became more important to me so that I can freeze moments with my friends, my family, and have them forever to treasure as life becomes more hectic with every year that passes.

In September 2020, I started my first year of university, having to fight my own self-doubt to continue my education to better my future. But another self-doubt that began to form when the weeks ticked on was how many photos I was taking of my time and experiences at uni.

Undoubtedly, I think it is fair to say there is never a correct amount of photos one should take ever, but it is easy to believe otherwise when comparing yourself to others, especially in this day and age with social media.

Seeing all my friends posting pictures on the feeds and stories nearly daily of them and their flatmates began to make me seriously consider if I was wrong, no matter how much I told myself "just do you".

Of course, I do have photos with my friends, flatmates and other times at uni, but compared to others, my amount is minuscule.

When having a night in my flat, I have never once said to my flatmates, "come on guys, let's take a selfie" because I am not that person, but I don't mind that. If my friends take selfies I will happily be a part of them, but I have never been the person to always be taking them.

I'm someone who'd much rather live in the moment - yes, photos can help us to remember good times we've had so we don't forget the little things, but it's important not to let it take over our lives to the state where we no longer remember being in the moment and only having these photos. I would rather rely on my mind to be able to tell stories about my times in the future.

With all of this, I know I'm not wrong as I'm doing what is best for me and what makes me content, but I feel that as long as there's always a way to compare myself to what others are doing, I will never truly feel right in what I do, and whether or not I may live to regret my decision in future years.