Sometimes the important question to ask is why. Why do we make photos? We spend a whole lot of time asking how...how do we know what shutter speed and aperture to use, which lighting is the best, how do I compose for the best photo…

Don’t get me wrong, all of these are important questions. But I think we get so carried away in the how...in the mechanics, that we forget to ask why.

And one of the main why’s for most of us is to document our life. To remember the details, moments, colors, textures, smiles that our minds can’t possibly keep track of. I mean we only have so much space in there, right?

Documenting your life can look different for different people. For some, it’s to pass on the moments and memories to their children, and grandchildren. I certainly love going through my mom and dad’s old photos of when they were young, or their vacations.

My mom & dad cutting their wedding cake. I’m getting a little teary eyed right now as I’m typing this. Aren’t they adorable?!

But sometimes, like for me, it’s so I can go on nostalgic trips through my past and remember all the lovely moments that happened. I’m so glad that I have thousands of photos of our year in France.

I’m so thankful that I captured photos of not just the iconic structures and monuments, but of the people, our apartment, the food, and the trains that I loved so much.

And I also captured photos of not-so-great-at-the-time stuff, like our trips to the French consulate trying to get our visas. Or when we were staying with a host family while at our French Language school. We were brand spanking new to France, to Toulouse, and we had pretty poor language skills. And the ONLY language that the family spoke to us? French. Meals, although delicious, were also stressful because most of the time I had no idea what anybody was talking about.

This is the French Consulate in New York City. I think we both broke into a cold sweat every time we went in.

And the journey to the consulate involved a couple of trains, and lots of walking on a cold snowy day. Looking back it just looks beautiful in Central Park. But that day? We were cold, wet, and a little cranky.

Meals were also stressful for my poor husband. Because when Madame asked (in French, bien sur) if he wanted more of the delicious morsels that she had served, he was all for it. Until he found out that second helpings aren’t really something that are cool in France. So Madam, Monsieur, and the other student staying at the house (from Spain) all sat and stared at Neal as he ate his second helping. It was the last time he took one.

And now? We look back at those photos and laugh about all of it. And fondly reminisce about the experience. These are memories that our photos will help us cherish forever. Periodically I love to take a trip down memory lane and look at the places we visited, the cats I petted, the restaurants we enjoyed.

So although the how allows us to end up with prettier memories, asking why helps guide us, as we decide what kind of photos to create, and even how many.

If we keep the why in mind as we create photos, we will likely make more of them. We’ll probably think more in a storytelling approach, rather than a random set of photos that are pretty.

Our host family’s home in Toulouse, France. Yes it was beautiful, but stressful when I had to try and participate in any sort of conversation.

And why is this important now? Well we can’t travel, that’s true. But this is also an unprecedented time in our lives. In all of our lives. So let’s document it.

I remember the blizzard of 1976 (yeah I’m that old). Schools were closed for weeks, even my dad couldn’t go to work. The snow drifts were up to our roof. We made snow forts, and played in the snow until we were frozen. Then we would come inside for Swiss Miss hot chocolate (yeah powdered and kind of gross but we sure loved it) and mom would dry out wet clothes in the dryer. And out we would go again.

So that probably wasn’t a spectacular time for my parents, but as a kid? I have a whole different set of memories. And the photos of the drifts up to the telephone wires? I love them.

If you’re an adult you’re likely not loving what’s going on right now. I don’t. It’s scary, and frustrating, and just strange. But it’s also something that the whole world is going through together and is one of those things, like the blizzard of 1976 (ok probably more so) that we’ll all talk about for years to come. Something that will affect us for the rest of our lives.

So isn’t it worth documenting? Especially if you have kids. Them doing their schoolwork at home, the chalk drawings on the sidewalk. The entire family at home can sometimes be maddening, but it also makes for some fabulous photos and memories.

The street where our French language school, Langue Onze, was located. I’m SO glad I have these photos of all the little details!

These are the bikes we would ride to French class every day. We were so proud of ourselves for figuring out the app, and how to rent these bikes en français!

Because as scary and stressful and strange as this all is? It’s something that doesn’t happen everyday and should be documented. In photos.

Now as I write this, I’m thinking that I need to carry my camera with me as I go for my daily walks. To document what is happening in my neighborhood. It’s not exactly spectacular, but it’s definitely different from our normal lives. The emptiness of the streets. The drawings that kids put up in the windows to seemingly cheer us all up.

We can show that feeling of emptiness...and hope with our cameras. We can find the sweetness, the humor, the beauty in what’s happening right now, and share that through photos.

So I challenge you to get out your camera. Now. It can be an amazing instrument of expression and we all need to express some of this that we’re feeling right now. According to Brené Brown, we are collectively grieving our old lives right now. And that makes sense to me.

More of the details that I’m so grateful to have captured…this is our little apartment in Toulouse.

This is the weekly market near our apartment, where our landlord Patxii showed us the ropes.

And this is the boulangerie just down the street from us, where we would get freshly baked baguettes, and munch on the crispy warm ends before we even made it back home.

I’ve been feeling down, helpless, scared. And personally my life hasn’t changed all that much. I have worked from home for 3 years, and I still do. We can’t go out to breakfast on the weekends, which is kind of our thing, but can I really complain about that?

But I still feel it. I feel empathy for those who are losing so much. I’m scared that it can happen to us. I know we’re all going through a range of feelings right now, that are tough to deal with.

So my suggestion is to get out the camera and use it as your pandemic journal. Add a visual journal to your list of “things to make me feel better in this crazy time”. You know, like hot baths, feel good movies (I just watched A Good Year...again), a glass of wine, meditation…