Thinking Through Pictures

I love to take pictures. I always have my camera on me. I feel naked when I don't have my camera with me. I'm afraid that I'll miss the opportunity to capture a moment and, as a result, forget about that moment. I love to look through my pictures and relive the moment that caused me to take the picture in the first place. I think I get my love for pictures from my dad. It feels weird saying that since I don't credit him with anything other than my looks, but as I look through the albums of pictures from before I was born and from my childhood it becomes clear to me that the man loved his camera and loved to take pictures. I wonder about the pictures, why they were taken, and why so much changed.

I look at this picture and see a couple in love. A young couple in love. Who would have thought that they would end up divorced and essentially hating one another a decade later? What happened to the love? Did he change or did she?
I look at this picture and see serenity. This has to be my favorite picture of my mom. It's so beautiful and simple. I've never seen her look that at peace in my life. I wish she would look at this picture (she refuses to look at any of these pictures) and remember how at peace she felt. Maybe that would help her find comfort in the way her life is now.
Now this one...I wish I could remember the beginning as well as I remember the last 6 years. I was a daddy's girl at one point. Maybe, just maybe, if I could remember those years it would help chill the effect of the last 6.
It amazes me how much emotion and feeling can be captured in a picture and how a snapshot of an instant can tell a powerful story without words.