Flip flip flip… Every once in a while that’s all you hear. When I’m sad I flip, when I’m bored I flip, the pages of my family’s photo album. It brings me back to the past. It reminds me of what I want to be in the future. They are always stable and always changing. You may think that’s weird, but it’s one of those things that you just can’t explain.
When one says, “ A picture is worth a thousand words” I believe them. Every picture I own has a story. Sometimes I’m with my mom looking through them and she remembers this of what happened when we visited the Golden Gate Bridge. Other times my dad gets emotional when he sees the picture of my mom and I arriving to the U.S. for the first time. Even by myself I regain the feeling I had the moment of the picture. In one picture, I saw snow for the first time and to my surprise I looked angry. Eventually, I realized that I was having so much fun I didn’t want to wait to pose for pictures. Looking back I’m glad I did because that’s an event I never want to forget. All these emotions ignite my passion to drive my future.
Everyone has those days where they are sad and question what they are doing with their lives. When I feel this way I just go back and relive these moments. In sports they tell you to imaging what you want to do you your head because you mind thinks you are actually doing it. In this case I can do one step more. When I see myself happy, playing tennis, or with my family I relive it and I remember, that’s why I belong here. My presence is important to my family, I have goals and a future in tennis and finally, the only debt I owe is to my self so I have nothing to lose. These things connect in my brain and they connect to my history.
Photography has always been in my family. Ever since I could remember there were pictures of me. In what seemed like a past life, my dad owned a photography studio. When other families could careless about pictures, my family was obsessed. I have picture of almost all of my distant family members. Since I barely see them any more, these pictures mean everything to me. In that sense they will always be there in image for me. Life, it brings change, people are added to the family, they age, and pass, but they are till here in image.
Whether I look happy, I look angry that feeling will always be here. How I looked, the feelings I felt, the style of the time, I will always know. That is why my family photo album is the most important thing, that connects all the aspects of my life in one book.