Recently, a dear friend passed away after a rough battle with cancer. Given the honour of putting together a movie to show at her funeral, my husband and I spent our Sunday looking through their old photographs and making something beautiful that represented her life.

In songs, books, movies and all things arty, there’s often talk about what you leave behind, when we eventually leave the earth that we know. We’ve all heard that “a picture says a thousand words”. This is evermore true when we pass away - while you are left with memories and life lessons, these things can and often do fade. The tangible things which we are left with are photographs, and so often people don’t realise the value of this until the chance has passed. 

Thankfully, this movie that my husband and I made has plenty of photographs in it because there were lots of photos taken and kept. And now, thanks to those photos, the family has a way to see and remember their loved one, ready to play whenever they need it.

Another moment where I wished I had more photos came a few months ago. My dad’s father passed away before I was born. They were not close, and in fact they rarely spoke or saw each other. For the first 24 years of my life, I grew up not knowing what my grandfather looked like. As soon as I grew an interest for my ancestry, I asked for a photo of him - and for the first time a few days ago, I found a photo. One photo. Now I’ve got a copy of it to show my future children what their great grandfather looked like. It may be just one, but it is a photo that I will have forever.

So my closing thought - take photos whenever possible, and keep them. It is far better to have too many photos than not enough. That feeling of, “Oh I wish we had a photo of that!” is amplified when that photo is no longer possible, for whatever reason. I know not all people will share this same sentiment - maybe the memories are enough, maybe they might not want to be reminded at the time. But eventually, someone will want to see a photo.