Febuary 2024

Why I Would Encourage You to Keep Taking Pictures of Everything

By Valentina Hartleben

After coming back from a special trip, I dive into my Photos app, and it feels like a hug to see all these moments I’ve taken pictures of. Being able to capture a precious moment and freeze it forever is beautiful.  To take pictures is to be in war with time, deciding that now the moment you took a picture of, will exist forever. Immortalizing the happiness or the nostalgia of moments is something we can do when we take pictures.  I find it very human to make something eternal in a world where everything is ephemeral. 

As the year is starting, we should all feel encouraged to make art and continue exploring. Taking a picture is art. When we stare into a screen or a piece of paper, we are able to go back in time. You are able to feel what you felt, to remember if you were laughing or crying at the moment, who you were with and who you were. It’s beautiful to take a picture at a family dinner, when one of your friends looks beautiful, when you see the sky in a way it's never been before or when you feel like yourself. 

After looking at it from a more sentimental point of view, we can see it from another perspective. Imagine in 40 years from now, you will want to show people the experiences you had when you were younger. How you used to dress, how you looked, what places you visited, you will be able to reminisce and tell stories about your earlier years. This is a beautiful way to look at life, create an archive of persons and things you’ve loved. Beautiful things can be created from pictures, paintings, songs, books, stories, and laughs preserving them forever. 

A year from now, everything will have changed. Embrace the change, cause the only thing in life that doesn’t change is that everything changes. 

Next, I will introduce some of my favorite photographs or things created from photography.

Next, I will introduce some of my favorite photographs or things created from photography.

“ONE” by STILLZ, a book filled with polaroids the photographer and film director has taken since 2017.

“Photography” by Andy Warhol published in 1999.

“A picture means I know where I was every minute. That's why I take pictures. It's a visual diary.” -Andy Warhol.

Rosalía for “MOTOMAMI ZINE” by Carlota Guerrero, 2021. 

“SOFIA COPPOLA ARCHIVE” by Sofia Coppola, a collection of pictures she’s taken during the production of her films, 2023. 🐾