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