Forever Captures

Ever feel that irresistible urge to take a photo when you are with your loved ones having the best time, or that moment when the sky suddenly blushes deep pink in the azure, with the clouds framing its pretty face, and suddenly disappears into nothingness when the curtains of dusk draw themselves to welcome the elegant blackness of night, its tapestry woven with stars both near and small? Or when you are driving into the night, and the city's magnificent landscape seems to arise from the depths with its skyscrapers dotted with shimmering, twinkling lights that seem to compete with the stars in the sky to see who shines brighter? Or those quiet, intimate time loops when a green vista blanketed by mountains high and low in what seems like a world so unlike the ones we have crafted around us, yet absolutely essential for life, home to countless creatures who look different from us?

Photography is an art form that makes us capable of achieving just that- freezing moments in time that can be preserved forever, and something about the word 'forever' always brings in our hearts a sense of stability, from which stems happiness, that we as human beings on this planet ultimately yearn and search for. Every photo is more than just a photo- it carries within it the story behind a memory, a reminder of the beings who have inhabited this world with us way before we did, or a memory, a beautiful moment that the most important people in your life showed up for, a window through which we reminisce our good times and humble ourselves through it, using it as a memoir of gratefulness, through which we remember to be thankful for having received those good vibes.

I remember learning photography through an online course for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the pandemic caused a lot of pain and devastation across the world, in a way, it also became a pathway through which we found another lens through which to view ourselves, another hidden characteristic of us that further enhanced our 'you factor'- that uniqueness that each of us hold as individuals- something positive to hold on to. Since then, I practiced taking pictures in our apartment's small garden, where the flowers would waltz in the breeze and sparrows with their chirping singsongs, or butterflies of different hues would come to rest on the gentle, kind branches of the trees that grew there.

A picture of a butterfly in our garden

Gradually, I was able to use this to capture moments outside of that small, picturesque garden, and taking pictures of important family moments to cherish, like road trips, vacations, or even on festivals and special occasions. On our trips, I especially enjoyed taking pictures of my surroundings and the animals and birds that you come across on those events.

Rose tinted skies at 6pm

Photography, in all of its forms, when used for the right reasons and occasions is a tool that captures moments of happiness, emotions, and in a way, capture our personality's evolution through the years. They become a sort of visual diary entry that gives every detail about that day, that atmosphere in one click of a button. Not just for personal or professional endeavors, but they are aides that act as a time machine- snapshots of history, of moments that should be looked back on, and what our past generations and ancestors worked towards. Like everything in our universe, this art form that manifests as art, as a passion, or even as a profession has multiple dimensions to it that gives it a color of its own with which we color out a picture of ourselves and the highlights of our life stories. Oftentimes, a single picture can trigger in us thoughts and ideas that we might have been looking for- a message that we really needed to be made aware of and understood, like how the colors of the sky that vanish within seconds remind us of how time truly is precious, and even though we feel that we have enough time to do the things we want to do, we never know when time ticks by without a second glance.

After all, as humans our brains are wired to process images faster than words, and these are retained longer in our mind's archives. Photography allows us to create a lasting impression of people, moments, destinations and imaginations that our minds hold within it as the most memorable.

Rameswaram, India- picture by me!