I decided one day to organize all of my photo prints and classify them into these categories: my family (husband and daughter), my friends from high school and college, acquaintances made through the groups I was affiliated with, and my biological family. I found the task somewhat overwhelming because I kept running out of albums to put them all in.
More daunting was the fact that I felt that some albums are most likely better off if they hidden away from the public eye, as these were my solo pictures --- and I had quite A LOT. The pictures told a lot about the transformations I went through as a young person, different phases, fashion crazes (or the lack of one sometimes --- ugh!), hair style changes, weight gain, etc.
It feels somewhat pointless to be keeping such pictures of myself lying on our coffee table. A guy I dated long ago thought how odd it would be for a person to take so many pictures of herself.
I smiled a lot for the camera back then, stood or sat with embellished poses. One of my favorites was spreading my arms wide open as if saying "Hello world!" I look at that radiant face and wonder, sometimes wonder, when was the last time I felt so magnanimous, unaffected, and carefree.
I've been taking pictures of my daughter a lot more for the last six years. I wonder if she would have the same confidence to pose with such flair and desire to have her image constantly immortalized in photo paper.
