The Random Photo Theory

A photogrph - technically a record of a specific scene made possible by the wonders of light. More commonly. it is a medium by which we document key moments in life. Its the most common way to keep track of the good times. Keep track of the important times. Your first walk. Your first prize. Your graduation. First trip. Special days in school and college. Trip to your dream destination. Farewells and reunions. Your marriage. The list goes on. Consider for a moment that you are dealing with photo albums. Suppose you have a album of life. The pictures mentioned above would more than likely make the list.

But those are not the pics I want to talk about. With the advent of digital photography its become very convinient to take pictures anytime anywhere. With internet its become even easier to share them. Something that has emerged out of the widespread use of mobiles is the ability of people to take pictures of even the most trivial scenes. Its become possible to take photos of even the most mundane things in everyday life. Random photos. Very few actually do this though and even fewer usually amass a huge collection of these photos over time. This has resulted in a common section on everyone's web album collections. Its called random pics.

This blog entry is inspired by these sections. You see, I dont think people fully realise the importance of these albums. Too much importance is given to the album of life. Those moments in the album of life. Your marriage. Your graduation. Standing beside a millenium old monument. They are all unforgettable experiences. A photograph of those moments is for commemoration rather than remembrance.

A random photo on the other hand, is something very trivial. A photo of your friends in the canteen. Of you with your co-workers on a project. A  photo of you and your friends or family hanging about the house doing nothing. Some pics you don't even realised were taken at the time. The ones for which you never posed with a 32 teeth smile. Of the time you were drunk and went crazy. Of the time you and your friends played a impromptu game in the class during break hours. That picture of you when you were working on a terribly difficult project for class all night. These too, were enjoyable times. Good times. Times you reminisce about when you get together with your near and dear ones after a long time. Times in your lives that are always behind the anecdotes that come up in conversation during reunions.

As we grow older, and start having more pictures in the album of life, the more we forget the pictures that would have made the random album. The scenes, pictures of which would have made the random album are slowly but surely forgotten kept alive merely by our memory of them once in a while. Though the photos in the album of life form the major landmarks in your life, the pictures that make the random album depict most of your life. There is perhaps a greater need to capture these moments in time.

Your favorite hang out spot as a kid. The classroom of your favorite subject as  a teen. The place where you did major work as an adult. The place where you first met most of your friends. The first time you hit bull's eye on the dart board but nobody believed you ;). The large consignment of groceries that was required for all the people you shared your first apartment with. Will all make an appearance only in the random album.

So if these moments are important to you, start taking pictures. Increase the size of that random album, because its these moments that are sure to fade away and that need most protection.