The Power of Printed Photographs

[Music]

it was 7 30 in the morning

i was having a conversation with my army

caremate in this office

before starting our official duties

you see in singapore we have to serve

the military service when we turn 18

and there i was in this office sitting

on a chair

very relaxed and comfortable

the moment i placed both of my hands

behind my back

my camera said something to me which i

would never forget for the rest of my

life

he stayed in a very serious tone hey

ciao don’t do that

it brings bad luck i looked at him and i

chuckled

bad luck what bad luck don’t be silly

about three hours later bad luck really

happened

i received an unexpected phone call from

my brother

he was mumbling something over the phone

and i was trying really hard to

understand what he was saying

all of a sudden he broke down in tears

and could hardly speak

so i panicked and i asked what happened

he did not respond and there’s a few

seconds of silence

then he started talking very slowly and

said

come home now father has died

of a heart attack that day was 6

october 1989.

today i’m going to show you how my

personal story has completely changed my

views on printed photographs

as a photographer by profession i have

noticed that many people

underestimate the power of printed

photographs

they don’t realize this power until

something happens

to someone that they love

when i arrived home from the army camp

i was heartbroken to see my father lying

in his bed

looking cold but peaceful

next to his bed i saw his sister

kneeling down and crying

her emotions were a little out of

control and she stayed angrily at my

father dimka let’s out the campfire

which literally means why did you leave

us so quickly

in cantonese immediately after that

everything became very fuzzy i couldn’t

remember what happened next

because our brain has a very good way to

block off traumatic experiences

making sure that we do not have to hold

on any trauma

of losing our loved ones because of its

survival mode

my father has already left me for 30

years

as i get older and older each year

my brain seems to remember less and less

of him

how did he sound like what was the brand

of secrets that he smoked

what were the nice things we did

together when i was younger

all these memories became more and more

vague as years went by

in january 2020 i visited my family in

singapore

and i asked my mother if she still has

photographs on my father

and while going through her memory box i

found about

seven eight printed photographs of me

and my father together

and because there were not many prints

my tangible memories of my father over

the years

have also faded away

and that is one of the deepest regrets i

have in life to date

of not having many printed photographs

of me and my father together that i can

hold on to

there were also not many printed

photographs of us spending time as a

family

except for this photograph i found in

the memory box

that’s me and my father i was about

six seven years old and this was taken

at the zoo in singapore

we did not go out much as a family let

alone having photos taken

that’s why this makes this so special

because the next time i had my photos

taken with my family

was when i turned 18 just about three

years before my father passed away

so this printed photo is very special to

me

but our printed photos special to you

some of you might be wondering why

printed photographs

and not digital photographs how

important are memories related to

printed photographs

the more i reflect on these three

questions

the more i believe that memories are

created in tangible things

and are often remembered through

concrete locations

words objects and either audio visual

stimuli

you listen to a piece of music and

you’re immediately brought back to your

first romance

or maybe your first kiss

you hold on to a bracelet and you

remember your grandmother’s love for you

you sit on the couch and you remember

hey

that was your dog’s favorite location

so why do some people get so emotional

when they look at physical things of

their loved ones

that is because they are so much in

touch with the energy

and it helps them to remember that

specific moment they had together

likewise for printed photographs

you see you touch you smell

there is this special relationship

between you and the object

which cannot be explained in words

as i mentioned earlier that many people

seem to underestimate

the power of printed photographs many of

them are reluctant to be photographed

because they think

they are not good enough

and because of this insecurity they are

missing out on having photos taken with

their loved ones

and also missing out on the joy and the

love

that the printed photograph can bring

so think of it this way it is easy

for you to miss out on one family photo

but year after year you are still

missing from all those photographs

and eventually you’re missing to be part

of the memory with your loved ones

likewise your loved ones are also

missing that memory of you

for me it’s the printed photographs that

would trigger memory

keep them alive remind me how special

my relationship is with the people that

i love

and it also allows me to cherish these

photographs for years to come

so let me ask you this question

when was the last time you had photos

taken with your loved ones

and had them printed out

thank you

[Music]

you