Attempting to capture time
Knowing when to pull out your camera and take a photo can be difficult sometimes. Here are some images that I feel represent their time well.
What moments in time do you capture? How do we know when there’s one to remember happening right now?
In most cases, you don’t. It’s always after the fact. There is a rare occasion where you know you should raise the lens and snap a photo, and I’m not just talking about those big life events. Weddings, birthdays, parties, we know there’s going to be some record of it.
It’s those in-between moments of seemingly nothing. When do you capture it?
Below are some attempts I’ve made to capture a slice of time.
We all grow old, as do the people around us. Yes, this is a birthday, and there were plenty of pictures taken. But this was my Nonna’s final birthday that all of the family were able to gather for. She passed away shortly after her 91st, celebrating from the room of palliative care. Nowhere near as lively or joyous. The above picture serves as a jewel for all things Nonna.
Moving forward in time to when we began preparing my Nonna’s house for auction, these were the last images I captured on my phone. There was something particular about the light that day, I’m not sure what exactly but the scenes had something to say.
There are many memories in this house, but none like these pictures. We’d mostly spend time there in the evenings and nights, eating food and running around. To see these scenes in the mid-morning light was almost like looking at a different house.
This is my Nonna I still get to see. She’s fun, charismatic and loving. This picture isn’t anything to boast about but shows some liveliness. Captured mid-way through a conversation, it’s just Nonna, in her sewing room.
The other picture is the lounge room, set up specifically. My Nonno, who passed away in 2020, would sit in this chair and watch TV. A spare chair next to him for anyone to join. This is one of those moments that hit me. When I was there that day, my Nonno in the kitchen (playing on his iPad, bless), the light spilling into the room captured my eye and it dawned on me that waiting to capture this moment was fleeting. We knew he was on the decline, and this room wouldn’t be arranged like this forever.
Would it have been better with him in the photo? For sure, but we can’t have it all.
Here are some scenes I’ve captured across the years. Whether it was for the lighting, atmosphere, colour, or composition, these were all moments that made me pause to document.
These don’t speak as clearly as images of humans (personally), but they do elicit the feelings associated with these moments. The long, misty trek through sugarloaf, the sunrise and squawks over the waves, the spraying nozzles over dirty cars. These aren’t locations that I frequent, so these pictures serve as a good grounding for the time I have spent there.
This is why I capture images, to reflect on from time-to-time, and share.
I look forward to the many more I’ll capture.
Stay inspired,
Josh