Life is Full of Snapshots

The newest  phenomenon to become a dinosaur in our culture  is Kodak’s Kodachrome film.  In the age of digital film is used less and less, but this film can be tagged with lots of memories you’re probably familiar with from the pages of National Geographic and other magazines.  Today because of technology we choose to get our results with the push of a button, but one thing stays the same…life is full of snapshots.

Every memory in your mind is snapshot.  It contains people, places, and things that are of importance to you.  They represent your feelings, thoughts, and emotions and those memories surface every time you call them to the foreground of your consciousness.

When diagnosed with a chronic or life-threatening illness many choose to push the personal photo album to the far places in their mind.  You are afraid that recalling what once was has no bearing on the life you’re living today when in fact it is the cornerstone of every new snapshot you take.

We all live life looking through a lens.  Following the diagnosis your lens may alter slightly, but who you are is still the same.  Your memories are the same as are the stories you’ve told for years.  The new photos are not simply images, but reflections.  Following your diagnosis you begin to shift from simply taking snapshots to creating your personal photo-journalistic point of view.  It’s not simply about the picture, but the story that is filled with light and shadow that allows you to reinterpret your new life.

You get to choose the lens you will use for this journey.  You may use a telephoto lens in order to get close up to things that are far and you want to keep at a distance.  A fish eye lens may give you enough distortion to make what’s difficult more palatable.  No matter the lens you use selecting it with intention is at the crux of your internal photo-journalistic journey.

It’s your choice how you see the world.  After an illness diagnosis the lens you choose will impact your treatment options, your attitude, and how you live each and every day.  Don’t go the way of the dinosaur; keep your snapshots in the present and glory in each and every frame of your life.