Photographs, Connections, and Gratitude

March, 2025

Hello website blog. It has been a while since I've had the time and motivation to write a blog post. For some reason, my motivation to write has increased drastically; probably because the weather is getting warmer, and the days are getting longer.

Every few months or so, I gather up the courage to take on the endless coats, vacuums, and shoes that make up my front door closet which houses a plastic purple bin containing hundreds of family photos. Believe it or not, one of my biggest fears is losing these photos and I am constantly thinking of how that purple bin would be one of the first things I would grab if something happened to my home (God forbid, but I have anxiety :p). No matter how many times that box has been looked through, there is always a photo that I've never seen and a memory that reemerges after being hidden in the back of my brain. It is then that I think back to just how vast life really is and how many experiences one can have in a given lifetime.

The act of capturing a photo is a wild concept when you think about it on a deeper level. Photography, as described on Britannica as a method of recording the image of an object through the action of light, or related radiation, on a light-sensitive material. is extremely accessible nowadays. However, before there were smartphones and digital cameras there was... you guessed it... the camera obsucra which I am not even going to attempt to go in depth with. Moral of the story is it was much more timely and difficult to capture a photo back in the day than it is now. Preserving moments and capturing memories was so valued, that humans did everything they could to successfully take and keep a photo. It's beautiful to think about.

When looking at photos, whether that be of my family, my ancestors, my pets, my friends, a tree, a piece of art, or a heart-shaped streak on the floor I can't help but be taken over by an intense sense of gratitude. Even photos taken during my teenage years at some of my lowest points in life. I no longer look at those photos with resentment but rather from a more appreciative standpoint because I was able to overcome those moments and become the person I am today. Sometimes I glance at pictures of my mom, my grandma, and my aunts and notice how our smiles are the same and how we all share a beauty mark in the same area of our faces. I look at pictures of my friends and think about all of the stories that I will someday tell my own kids. Pictures of nature remind me that this home we call earth is so special. There are photos of some of my favorite artworks that continue to inspire me to create because the possibilities are endless. I can't help but be grateful.

This was a random blog post that was spontaneously written at a coffee shop in some small Wisconsin town, but every word is genuine. To whoever reads this, never feel bad for wanting to take pictures of everything. Continue to live life, take care of yourselves and well-being, and appreciate the little things in life. Check on your friends, invest in your communities, and everything in between!

Con mucho amor

~ Eliana