oh what a world...

My primary function at the camera store right now is printing people's photos. It's fun; I get to live through the eyes of others while I look at the most intimate details of their lives. Well, at least their weddings, kids, and fabulous vacations. You get the occasional disturbing sets of photos (images of those killed in car accidents from law firms) or kind of hilarious (I developed and printed a guy's disposable camera of his fun night out with what I'm pretty sure was a prostitute).

One of my favorite (and least favorite when you have to deal with the actual machine) is scanning old photographs to be burned onto a DVD. I've gotten a lot of interesting things to scan, but the order I did today was quite amazing. I pretty much saw this woman's life from start to almost finish (she isn't dead or anything, but a frequent customer at our store). I'm not sure why she brought in all of these pictures (well, I guess to have them digitized, of course), but I can certainly say I loved every single photo out of the 300-ish that she brought in. I saw her childhood in what I'm assuming is California through small, square, and torn/folded pictures, to her vacations in Mexico, to her bohemian days of playing the guitar and wearing fabulous maxi dresses through multiple contact sheets, to the birth of her son. From what I can tell, she was a single mother, because she had several Christmas Cards throughout the years, and they all said, "With Love, Julie and Josh". She was a bit older when she had him, and I saw her rapidly graying hair as her son grew up. But I have to say I couldn't admire her any more. She lived her life to the fullest and even though she was an older mother, the love in her son's eyes was clearly evident through all the photos. I wouldn't say she was beautiful in a conventional way, but I would look through those photos of her playing the guitar on the beach over a Vogue any day. I guess what I'm trying to say is, that her love of life was quite clear. She is constantly surrounded by her family and various friends in far off destinations, from Europe to Africa. I'm excited to see her come in again so I can quietly watch from afar the next chapter of her life.

I wish our lives weren't so digitized these days. I had a sinking feeling that I may be the last person to ever touch these photos again, because once they're on a DVD, then what's the point? Someone may never get to experience that musty smell again, or appreciate the George Eastman Kodak stamp on the back of the photos. It also makes me wonder, if someone, some day, will be looking through my photos and have the same appreciation for my life? Possibly. I don't have a lot of photos of me. Well, from my childhood, yes. And thank God my parents loved that Polaroid camera, because my baby photos are awesome. I mean, will someone ever be going through my hard drive, looking at my multiple drunken nights at college? And what do I have to show for the past couple of years? I have no pictures of myself. I should start making a conscious effort to get more photos (attention friends with cameras...hint), if not just for documentary purposes.

I walked home in a good mood. I am constantly put down at my other job by mean tourists, so it's nice to finally re-gain some of the faith that I have been losing in humanity. It made me excited for all the adventures to come in my life, and to know that's okay to be making them by myself. It's one of those 'control your own destiny' things I suppose. Times are tough, but I hope that everybody gets to chance to feel like I did today. I encourage you all to go out this week and do something exciting. And make sure to bring your camera, because you never know when someone might be appreciating your life someday.