If you're reading this right now, you're part of an age of no limitations. Today, everything is unlimited. Except for my mom's iPhone's memory space. The lady fills her camera roll with memes and quotes so much, that she often misses her granddaughter's achievements as they happen in real life. But that's not the point.
The point is, we are constantly capturing "the moment". We take hundreds and hundreds of pictures on our mobile devices every single week. We keep them in our memory cards, external hard drives and computers and forget about them. We rarely print them to hang them on our walls, and we certainly don't think about them a year from now.
One of the reasons I love shooting film is because there is so much beauty in limitations. It limits me to take a few frames, to make each of them count. I am obligated to be intentional because to waste a shot is to throw $2 out the window. And you know what? I print them. I hang them everywhere. I obsess about them. 10 years from now, I will get to share that moment with my kids. And hey, If I'm lucky enough to last into my 60s, you bet I will be sharing that same moment with my grandkids. Our eyes won't be glued to a screen—they'll be looking at a paper, holding the memory in their hands as I embrace them the way I embraced "the moment". Film serves me in so many ways, and this is one I treasure the most.
Can I be real with you for a second? yes, I'm talking to you, you holding the phone 24/7...you, the parent... you, the college student... you, the one missing out...
Allow yourself to be limited. Give yourself 5 frames to photograph a moment. Take the time to think about what's important in that moment. Heck, you may end up having someone document you in the frame or you may decide to put the phone down altogether. Whatever you decide to do, don't take unlimited pictures just because. You can find your voice by being intentional with every image you create. Isn't the point of photos to recall what was most important now and pass down to future generations? That's how you build a legacy.
Start now, and don't look back.