This is an old post from my Tumblr. It relishes on putting the camera down to make the memories instead taking the memories. It's about balance.
This past weekend has been special. We were celebrating my mother’s 60th birthday with a surprise party that began planning in January. We had a whole bunch of family fly in for it. I was debating on using my camera for the actual party. I ultimately decided to live in the moment. Although, I do have an internal debate with myself in taking pictures of my family to cherish the moments physically because there’s not too many from our past(but that’s a different post for a different day).
Here are some photos of the weekend after the actual party. This post is for family, and enjoying the moment.
As happy as this weekend has made me, I can’t say it wasn’t bittersweet. After not seeing my two cousins for 5-10 years, I was shocked to see how much they’ve grown (bottom two photos, Keoni and Jelly). Having family in different places is hard because you’re not there to watch them grow up. On the other end of that, it’s great because you cherish those moments you together even more. For the family that I can see grow up (top three pictures, Keon and Izzy), I will cherish the opportunity I have to help them grow. They’re already growing too fast.
I’m glad to have taken these pictures, but I’m also glad that I didn’t use my camera during the actual party. I was able to just live in the moment. It would’ve been great to capture my mom’s reaction and all the happiness at the party, but I wanted to just live. As a photographer, I don’t always want to use my camera on me. It’s like a double entendre.
The moments I don’t capture physically, are the memories I capture spiritually.
Bonus: Keoni told Jelly that the cup was filled with water, but it was sprite.
