I have over 30,000 photos on my phone. Thirty thousand moments I thought were worth taking, then never looked at again.
Something made me stop, pull out the phone, hit the button. Then I move on, and the photo just sits there with the other thirty thousand. So I made myself a promise: 100 days of going back instead of forward. No new photos — just one old one a day, pulled from the archive. Vacations mixed in with random mornings and afternoons.
Some days I couldn’t pick just one — too many photos still had something in them. Other days, one would jump out immediately.
Turns out I already had a photographic style. I just hadn't noticed it, because I was too busy taking the next photo to look at the last one. I take fewer photos now. Mostly because I know what I'm looking for now. I don't need ten shots hoping one turns out — one good composition, in and out, and I'm back to being present instead of standing there hunting for the shot.
What looking back really did was change my memory. These weren't just photos anymore. They were proof of what I noticed on days I don't otherwise remember at all — ordinary ones that don't usually leave a trace. Success.
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