I first picked up a camera when I was still a student. Somehow, without realising it, more than half a lifetime has passed since then.
A lot has changed.
Photography has travelled from film to digital, from the traditional SLR to mirrorless cameras. Today, almost everyone carries a camera in their pocket, with a smartphone capable of producing images that would have once required sophisticated photographic equipment.
The way we photograph has changed too. Photography has evolved from realism to conceptual art, from traditional approaches to experimental forms. The possibilities seem almost endless. If you can imagine it, there is probably a way to photograph it.
Yet, despite all these changes, I believe the essence of photography has remained remarkably simple.
To me, photography begins with the desire to remember.
Life is fragile. Time moves quickly, and moments that seem ordinary today can become precious memories tomorrow. A photograph gives those fleeting moments a place to remain. It leaves a small mark on the passing of time—a visual record of the people we loved, the places we visited, and the lives we once lived.
Perhaps that is why photographs become more meaningful as the years pass.
One afternoon, you may be sitting quietly with a cup of coffee, thinking about someone who is far away. You open an old album, scroll through a folder on your computer, or look through photographs on your phone. Suddenly, a face appears. A place comes back. A moment you had almost forgotten quietly returns.
The photograph has not changed.
But you have.
And for that brief moment, the distance between then and now disappears.
I believe the invention of photography is one of humanity’s most remarkable achievements. Technology will continue to evolve, cameras will become smaller and more intelligent, and new ways of creating images will continue to emerge.
But perhaps the most important thing photography can do will never change:
to preserve a moment of life before it disappears.
That, to me, is the meaning of photography.