Charlene Kuo: Thank you, photographs for your power to preserve memories. Photographs bring me back to moments with family and friends, from vacations to dinners with relatives. One valuable memory I collected from photos was my trip to Taiwan, where I got to meet so many relatives I didn’t even know I had before. I tried so many new foods native to Taiwan, like Oyster Pancake and a dish named Ba-wan. All these memories of my Taiwan trip still remain by the help of my collection of photos that I took during my trip. These memories are so valuable to me since they helped me recall memorable events from the past with my loved ones.
Nika Chan: Photographs not only preserve memories, but they also evoke emotions. From my childhood to now all of my favorite moments have been captured through a camera lens. I watched myself grow through the seasonally rotating frames that sit on the mantle. When I look at them laughter fills the air again as the feelings return. From all the places I’ve been or just the atmosphere of home my parents always captured me at my happiest. I didn’t enjoy smiling for pictures as a child, but in every corner of the depths of every camera roll on every device, you will always find me smiling in them.
Charlene Kuo: My only memories of my childhood were purely formed by the countless amount of pictures in my family’s photo albums. Even a picture as simple as me at home eating chicken noodle soup as a child helps me recall memories that wouldn’t even cross my mind today.
The memory of having a hot-forehead fever and staying home instead of going to kindergarten could transpire with just one photo of me sleeping on the couch soundly as a kid. With just one photo of the 6 year-old version of myself, I could recall playing with Kinetic Sand on the glass coffee table while watching Paw Patrol all day, not a single worry in my mind.
Nika Chan: People like to say phones and cameras distract from living in the moment but they don’t seem to realize how it is part of the experience. I think the best example of this was at my first concert. Every single person had their phone or camera out to film or take pictures and there is something beautiful about that. Thousands were in that stadium present, knowing this moment would never come again and all finding their own ways to preserve it for themselves.
Charlene Kuo: I am thankful for photographs because of its power to preserve and foster emotion. A photo of the child version of myself playing outside could prompt feelings of nostalgia, and an aged photo of spending time with old friends could make me long for the past. These emotions will forever last in any shape or form of a photograph, from those paper photos you print at your local pharmacy to the digital ones stored in your iCloud eternally. No matter if the lighting in the picture is good, or whether I look bad or good in it, I will eternally be grateful for photographs.
