If you look at most 20-something-year-olds’ phones at this very moment, there’s a good chance their galleries contain around 10,000 to 50,000 pictures. I am significantly worse: my gallery has 90,000 photos—a number I actually cannot explain. No matter how much I complain about my phone overheating or running out of storage, I keep flooding it with more and more photos every day. Among these pictures are countless screenshots of the Poetry Foundation website, unusual things I come across on my walks, pictures of the moon, the trees, the sea, and, of course, tens of thousands of photos of my friends.
With social media reaching a point of oversaturation, being present and staying in the moment have become modern luxuries. But my photo-taking habit has nothing to do with curating a perfect image. I’m not trying to doctor the perfect shots, only taken to be posted on social media. I simply take pictures to remember how the moment felt. And I’m definitely not the first to feel this way—to want to capture and preserve a significant memory. Humans have always had an instinct to leave a mark behind. We have always wanted to say, “I was here.” It’s why we write, keep diaries and tell stories; it’s why we paint, sculpt, and photograph. Recently, a 12,000-year-old—potentially even older—rock painting named The Kiss was found at Pedra Furada in Brazil.
The painting captured a moment that mattered to someone—someone very different from us, many, many years ago. What is it about human nature that makes you draw this on a cave wall? And what is it that makes you pick up the phone and take a picture of a loved one?
For 24-year-old director’s assistant Aparajita Agnihotri, taking pictures has always been essential. “Clicking a photo whenever I see something endearing or beautiful, especially in a moment shared with friends, comes very naturally to me. I feel like I’m developing little movies of my own—with my friends as my muses. I really romanticise my reality through the camera. And I also get to preserve all the emotions we felt in those moments, especially all the love.”
Agnihotri shares my belief that this does not take her out of the present. “While ‘put your phone down’ and ‘enjoy the moment’ have always been preached to the younger generation, I think there is something wonderful about having pictures to look back on,” she tells me. “When I was growing up, my parents photographed so much of my life, and it’s very special to flip through those pages and reminisce now. I do it for the same reason—so that I can look back and remember where I come from and who has been part of my journey.”
Our memories are a big part of what makes us who we are. When we think back to the important moments in our lives—whether significant events or special places—what we seem to remember most is the people we experienced them with. For Agnihotri and me, taking pictures of the people in our lives is simply holding onto them for a little longer. What is love if not wanting to hold onto something forever?
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