I remember my dad taking a lot of pictures growing up. My parents also did a lot of home videos of my older brother and I when we were younger - at the zoo, birthday parties, even us just eating dinner with the camera set up on a tripod catching the most routine and seemingly mundane of things. Each time I went on a school field trip or overnighter I would get multiple disposable cameras to take with me. I can remember the excitement of going to the drug store to turn them in and waiting a week to get them back.

My little brother is ten years younger than I am, and I've often thought about the difference in childhoods. By the time he was born well phones were getting more and more common. And the quality of cameras within those progressing smartphones was getting better and better. We keep so many digital images, but rarely get them printed out and displayed. There are boxes on top of boxes of pictures from when my parents were younger and my own childhood. My little brother won't have the same physical mementos to hold in his hands fifty years from now.

With my growing interest in photography, I've found myself coming back to that original SLR film camera my dad used for so long. I recently got my first role of film developed and love the images. Some are blurry, others are slightly discolored. But I love the simplicity of them, the lesson in patience and denying my need for instant gratification, and the memories that camera holds for me in my life.

xxo