starting small - day 19: remembering ten years ago


June 14th, 2017 - This is the eighteenth day of a 40 day blogging challenge: some pictures and words each day. Come back tomorrow to see more posts!
 ~~

This is me ten years ago. 

It is amazing how a single picture can capture a memory, its appearance, taste, smell, context, and preserve it for years and years. 

This is my backyard ten years ago.

Looking at a picture, the past is made manifest. The change that has occurred over the years is made very apparent, and you to "re-enter" into the memory. And through the picture you are able to re-experience the appearance, the taste, the smell, the context... 

This is my fashion style ten years ago.

As you recollect over a picture you re-collect all of the sensations that the picture contains. Perhaps you are even able to remember the breath of the wind on your neck as the picture is taken or the smell of the earth beneath your mud boots as the shutter clicks.

This is my brother's orange sweatshirt ten years ago. 

How can a single picture, a messy and chromatic conglomeration of pixels have such power over the memory? Does the picture actually contain the emotion that it evokes? Or does it simply act as a key to the intellect, opening a door, casting sunshine into a dim and forgotten room? 

This was how blue the sky was ten years ago.

The similarities found in a picture from years ago with the present add to the power of the memory. It universalizes it, making it stretch over time and space. A picture is timeless. 

So this is a picture. Brilliant. 


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