Life is like a disposable camera. Our brains capture a moment and freeze it in time. We don’t get to choose how we edit that memory or moment. It’s stuck just like that. Forever. In all it’s gritty and imperfect glory.
Once the pictures in a disposable camera are developed, there’s no going back. No editing the lighting or cropping out the bunny ears that your best friend so lovingly placed behind your head. The lighting was probably less than stellar and half the people in the group had their eyes closed, but the moment is frozen. Captured in time and kept as a memory.
There was only one shot to get it right. Kind of like life- mediocre lighting, amateur composition, and clearly visible blemishes. We don’t get twenty-seven chances to position everything right and fix the lighting and change our expressions before we take the shot. We just jump. Eyes open (or closed), slightly awkward expressions, faulty flash, and all. Each picture counts, because you’ve only got a limited number of exposures on the roll of film. Each time you click that shutter on a disposable camera, you’re a little bit closer to finishing.
Now, in the social media age, pictures can be uploaded instantly and edited enough to look almost professional. I know that I’m guilty of this myself. Considering whether or not I want to share a picture that didn’t turn out quite as planned. As if the appearance of the picture is more important than the memory being captured. How ridiculous. Or I begin to fall into the trap of thinking that every blog has to be effortlessly witty and inspiring and every picture contest-winner worthy. Guess what? Life’s not like that.
Yeah, there are a lot of Kodak moments, but there are a lot more mediocre ones in between. My everyday life looks a lot more like the pictures below than the ones where I’m climbing mountains and sharing breathtaking sunsets over Lake Erie. And I think that will probably be the case on the World Race as well. I hope that in this next year, as I travel the world and experience so many beautiful moments, I will not be tempted to filter my journey. I want to try my best to let you all into some of my ‘disposable camera’ moments. The memories that aren’t polished enough to go on Instagram, or aesthetically pleasing enough to get tons of likes on Facebook, but are still worthwhile moments full of imperfect beauty.
I love these pictures that I took with a disposable camera, not because they’re the best photographs I’ve ever produced, but because they show a moment in time that I got to experience with people I love. I have a disposable camera life andI’m not afraid to share it with the world.
Life is a little messy and a little less than perfect, but still worth sharing and celebrating. Don’t wait to share life with people until you can edit, tweak the lights, and take 576 shots. Take your disposable camera life and show the world how beautiful it can be to capture imperfect memories and cherish them more than the ‘perfect looking’ ones.
