Day: February 4, 2014

I take photographs of things because I want to capture that moment forever. Something catches my eye and I want to enjoy it again later, that’s the beauty of photography. My guess is that’s the case with most people who like taking pictures. You take the picture and later on you look at it and remember. It could be a landscape, objects like a new television or car, or family members. It’s the family pictures I’ve come to value the most over the years. While I enjoy a good view of nature I really love the family pictures. Over the years I’ve taken plenty of family pictures most of them while on vacation.

Looking at the pictures I am reminded of the time it was taken. My memory is poor but when I look at a photograph I can remember details about that moment and what life was like for me during that time. Not all memories are good ones.

Yesterday I visited my mother and she showed me a picture. It must have been from the late 80’s because I was wearing a B.U.M. Equipment hoodie, remember that brand from back in the day? I was standing in the doorway of a friend’s house with my Miami Dolphins hat tilted forward and my hand displaying the middle finger. What is it about flipping off the person taking the picture? It seemed like the thing to do back then. What a punk.

I remember my life during that time. I was 17 or 18 years old, recently left home, and was staying with a friend. There were no rules and each day our task was to party and hook up with chicks. We thought it was a blast and if I’m honest with myself it was. But I was a punk, I remember that too. My mother asked me if I wanted to borrow the picture to show my kids, I declined but it’s very likely she already showed them. Mom has no boundaries like that.

Then there’s the picture below. It was taken around 2003 at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes less than a year after our last child was born. As a kid my dad would take me and my brother north almost every summer and that was one of our stops. Man those were some of the best times of my childhood. Of course it wasn’t always fun and games as there were lessons to be learned but for the most part it was a fantastic time. Naturally I wanted to share some of the places with my own family. When we were expecting our first child in 1997 we went north to Ludington and from there drove further north to Petosky and Charlevoix. It was the first time I visited those areas since I was a kid.

I remember what my life was like then. It wasn’t perfect, needed improvement but that’s life too right? I know I felt like the world was mine. There was nothing that could take away my joy and I didn’t imagine it could change. It’s when this image was taken that I wish I could go back to.