Photos

Photos. Picture-perfect memories. I remember things with my camera. I cover my wall in moments. They snapshot the people and remind me of the smiles I love.

For me, the photos are the memories and the moments. When I have a picture with someone it means we have been together enough to care. Five years ago I had to steal a girl I barely away from our choir to stage a photo shoot for our school newspaper - my best friend now, we haven't stopped taking pictures of and with each other since.

One of my dear friends and I have spent three years never being in the same place at the same time with a remembered camera. Granted, we live on opposite coasts for most of that time, but although it's become a point of humor, it saddens me that I don't have pictures of her. My photo albums - the physical photo ones, not the internet-facebook albums - are pored over and shared. I grew up with my father proudly showing albums from my childhood; I loved seeing all of the moments, being told all the stories.

This is why I want pictures - to share the memories and tell the stories. I want to show my albums and share where I have been and what I have been doing the past three years of my life. I want to be able to point to friends, to places, and say, "Look, this is where I was at this time; this person changed me, and when this picture was taken we were doing this."

To tell the story - to know my friends.