Week 15 Samyukta Kulkarni - Smile for the Picture

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My precious camera that my friends bought me for my birthday.


Some people pack maps, keys, or wallets neatly into their suitcases. I carry a small blue Kodak that remembers better than I do. It’s not the fanciest camera, but it’s still one of my most prized possessions. It comes with me to every birthday party, school rally, or dance. Every time I turn it on, it plays a little tune, and the lens slides open, ready to capture the moment. 

I’ve always had this desire to hold on to things, from small things such as the way a place smells to powerful, important memories. It’s not that I’m scared of forgetting, I just don’t want certain moments to just fade away without leaving a trace. So I try to find ways to remember everything. Not just through pictures, but through saved movie or play tickets, folded up half-legible notes, and little trinkets that have seemingly no value to anyone but me. At the moment we don’t realize what we’re keeping when we tuck these away but several months or even years later, they become mini time capsules, small reminders of who we were at the time. 

That’s why I spend so much time scrolling through the photos on my camera. It’s less about the images themselves and more about the feelings they evoke. Each blurry picture of a school dance, each vlog that my friends insist on taking (even though it drains my storage space) lets me return to those memories, not perfectly, but enough to remember why they matter. 


Comments

  1. Shriya IyangarApril 17, 2025 at 11:22 PM

    Hi, Samyukta! As humans, we’re all attached to past memories and look for ways to hold on to them. As I read your blog, I especially enjoyed learning about your own digital camera and other trinkets that you use to save memories. Your description of this camera and the movements it makes when you turn it on, along with the inclusion of a picture of your treasured digital camera, were all great choices, and added a really personal touch to your blog that made it more fun to read!

    While I don’t have a digital camera, I often find myself storing away ticket stubs and old trinkets in a special pencil case, and I love the feeling that I get whenever I accidentally find this pencil case and look through all of the items in it! I imagine this is how you feel while going through the old memories stored in your digital camera, and completely relate to the fulfillment of being able to remember and relive cherished memories through these objects. Thank you for sharing about your special digital camera this week, and I look forward to reading your next blog on memory!

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  2. Anthony ZhouApril 30, 2025 at 5:32 PM

    Hello Samyukta, I hope you had a wonderful spring break! I’m glad that through the medium of photography you’re able to capture key moments in your life and be able to reminisce about it later on. Sometimes when I’m bored or when the power is out I scroll through my camera roll to see pictures of my old self at different times of my life. I’m always reminded of how far I’ve come, but also reminded of the happy memories associated with each picture. Unfortunately, I never purposely seeked to capture moments on my camera, so my photos are a bit sporadic. I wish I had done as you did and taken as many photos and captured as many memories as possible!

    I think the only thing that I have that comes close to a purposeful “time capsule” are my stash of awards from elementary school to the present. They’re not prestigious or anything, and most are simply just Oliveira’s “citizenship award” or my Thornton graduation certificate, but each piece of paper reminds me of an era of my life.

    I loved your blog and the ideas you share, and I look forward to reading your next one! Thanks so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Avish Z.April 30, 2025 at 9:20 PM

    Hi Samyukta, your blog was an amazing read and it also taught me the importance of memoirs. Typically, I do not take many photos nor do I keep many memoirs of things, but I do take some photos. Reading your blog really showed me why keeping memories of events is important just to remind you that they exist, not the details, since your mind can fill in most of those upon a reminder. When you mentioned the movie and play tickets, that reminded me of a couple tickets that I found in my wallet and bag (from Paris metro, Disneyland, and Urinetown). The last two, I was intending to throw them but just hadn’t gotten to it yet, but for the Paris metro ticket I had the same mindset as you and I wanted to keep it as a memory of my time there. I liked reading your blog, and it was great to see how items are important to memories.

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