Fast forward again 18 or so years. After the large amount of baby pictures, the number of pictures we took slowly dwindled to about… 0. I think the lack of time (from waaay too many tuition classes!) and me hitting the teens were part of it. Anyway, at about 12 years old or so, we moved interstate, where we settled in to a new church, and I picked a new hobby – drumming. It’s one instrument that over the years I’ve more or less learned to play it as naturally as typing (another skill I picked up doing up church youth newsletters).

This is me, age around 22. Yes, I was skinnier then. I think we were playing at St Vincent’s Hospital, and me trying to imitate a jazz drummer, poorly.

Photography was still expensive back then. It was still film, and an old friend had an SLR, which she used to take the above picture. Not to mention that those who didn’t know how to adjust exposure in film got a surprise when their pictures turned out all-white or all-black. And I noticed that the amount of ‘younger’ pictures I had were still probably below 20, for each year.

In 2005, that started to change. Digital was now, while still pricey, the in thing, and everybody started buying one for themselves. Turns out to be quite a significant year for me too – the year me and Annie started seeing each other, and the year that the both of us went an overseas church trip.

This was overseas, taken on a Panasonic Lumix I think.

Is there a point to this post? Now that I think about it, yes. The photos you take will point your memory back to those days, the time where you were happiest, or saddest; the time where you had the most fun, or had the biggest breakup, etc. Regardless, how we choose to remember life is by remembering who we spent it with, not whether the Aussie market plummeted or the next tallest tower is 1000m. So many times we’re so busy, or tired out from being busy that we defer doing the things that matter more than earning megabucks or reaching for that CEO job.

So. Reach for the drawer where your camera is, blow the dust off, and start making memories.

Stay tuned for the last one next week.