Why You Should Delete Your Photos
Delete your photos to unearth your memories.
Some people are lucky enough to take a picture which changes history, or documents a moment that people will talk about and share for centuries to come. If you’re like me however, you might have a camera roll on your phone full of photos people have never even seen. Nevertheless, they’re just as important as the photos which are renowned around the world.
I’ve been interested in photos ever since I was a little kid. I can remember my dad taking me to the camera shop to get rolls of film processed after a family holiday to Blackpool. Then the two week wait for the pictures to be processed and printed, before carefully slotting them into photo albums. Memories captured and treasured.
I’m a 90’s kid, so technology and photography has changed pretty fast throughout my life. The first time I owned a camera it was on a Motorola flip phone which I had saved up and bought with my birthday money. I thought I was a pro wandering around taking pictures of my friends at the park, capturing moments of my childhood.
Today I have a camera on my phone which can capture pictures my dad could only dream of back when we were on the beach in Blackpool as kids. I can document as much of my life as I want and not even bat an eyelid about it. For most people these pictures are meaningless. Take the picture below… A quick snapshot of me and my bike in Brighton just before getting on a ferry and heading to France.
The photograph means nothing to you. It’s just a bloke with a bike. The internet is full of similar pictures, all probably better picture quality and more interesting. But to me this picture is important.
This picture isn’t just a timestamp of an exact moment in my life. It’s the memories of everything about that time and the journey I’ve been on since. This picture reminds me of what it felt like to be 23 and setting off on my first big adventure, to becoming a man and being independent. When I look at it I can remember the excitement and anxiety of doing something new, on this occasion cycling 500 miles to Paris and back. I can almost feel the summer breeze on my face again as I rode along the beach, and picture so many more moments from that week.
I remember feeling optimistic about life and the future, thinking about all the big plans I had for myself. I can recall all the chats in the pub with my friend whilst we planned the trip and I’m reminded of all the times I’ve shared the stories of that adventure with other people since. I’d be distraught if I ever lost those memories or how I felt back then, but this picture helps nudge them all back to the forefront of my brain and I can relieve them all over again.
You might be guilty, like I am, of having a camera roll on your phone full of thousands of pictures. How often do you go back and look at them? Are any of them important to you? Until recently I hardly ever looked back through my photos, and we don’t print pictures and put them in photo albums like we did as kids. I’ve taken the time to go back through all of my photos and delete any that don’t have importance to me, leaving just the ones like above which bring memories flooding back. I can flick through my camera roll now and see all the important moments of my life play out like a slideshow. Take the time to look back at your photographs and remember why they were important enough that you took a camera out and pressed the shutter. They might not be important for everyone, but they should be for you.
