Because there’s one person always missing from family photos: the one behind the camera. Because selfies don’t tell real stories. At home, in Romania, where I was born, the person behind the lens was my dad. He left us endless visual memories, but his smile, his mustache, are not on any of them. He is not there and I know I miss him even more.
Because real gestures of affection are often so slight they get scattered like breadcrumbs, easily lost, quickly forgotten. So yes, there’s a need for another pair of sensitive, trained eyes to capture them forever. The same photograph may reveal an intense look, a gentle caress, a subtle refrain, a fleeting emotion — details that can become lost in a haze of busy days and moments in our memories. Isn’t it curious how a single image is not so still after all?
Because, as human beings, we live our lives through our senses. Where a glimpse of a photo brings to life so many other stimuli, the scent of the grass, the flavor of the food, the sounds of the city. While our eyes feast the rest of our senses feast too, and at our core, we hunger for more of these delicious, awakened, memories.
