memories

Reflecting on Old Photographs: Nathan’s Famous Since 1916

When I was maybe six years old, my father introduced me to Nathan’s. We had dropped off his mother at her what was to me dreary apartment. That woman never seemed happy to me, and it wasn’t until I became an adult, I understood why.

Why I Might Hate These Old Negatives

Pinball machines; depending on your age, you might know all about them. Once, considered so evil that New York City banned them. Wasted youths (juvenile delinquents) spent days and nights hanging out in pinball palaces. They were so ubiquitous, “The Who” even made them a central part of their rock opera, “Tommy.”

Grandma and Grandpa’s Wedding Photo

It’s an odd day. After months of quarantine, this trip to the framer and lunch with my mother just filled me with so many emotions. It’s been over a year and I have finally “finished” the hardest project I have ever done. The priority mailboxes have been sent and the backing is on the frames. I feel as if I should rip them open and start all over. In my heart, I know I’ll never be completely satisfied or “finished”

Does Photographing a Moment Steal the Experience From You?

Countless photographs are snapped every day by people looking to preserve their life's experiences, but is the incessant picture taking actually robbing us of them? Travel photographer and writer Erin Sullivan recently gave this interesting 8-minute TED Talk on the subject.

The Lesson from Costco’s Photo Lab

I received a letter from Costco that the location I frequent for my 8 pounds of ground beef and jumbo bottle of vodka is closing their photo department. Why? Because in spite of more pictures being taken now than in any time in the history of photography, people are simply not printing their snapshots and, because of this rapid decline in printing volume, it makes no financial sense to keep the photo department open.

We Are Known By What We Leave Behind

100 years from now, no one is going to care who I am. I know this. I don’t mean that in a bad way and I don’t say it in the hopes someone will contradict me and shower me with praise; this is not said as compliment bait.

Kodak Pranks Londoners, Pretends to Erase Their Phones and Photos

Kodak Moments UK pulled a cringe-worthy prank on a few Londoners recently. They attracted unsuspecting strangers to their display under the guise of a "custom-built, super-fast phone charger," and then promptly 'wiped' all of the data off of their smartphones... oops.

Why Professional Photography is ‘Worth It’

Being in the photography business successfully for 40 years has been an amazing journey and a great accomplishment for me. I believe that the people I meet are the best clients anyone could wish for.

Recreated Family Photos from Around the World

Then-and-now photo recreations have become extremely popular online over the past several years. Especially with rephotographed family photos from decades past, the concept offers a fascinating look at how people have changed over the years.

Portraits of Refugees with Their Most Precious Possession

Commercial portrait photographer Gabriel Hill's typical day involves photographing big players in the pharmaceutical industry, some of the wealthiest people in the world. But his powerful personal project ImPORTRAITS is all about people who have almost nothing: refugees who escaped their countries carrying only the bare essentials... and sometimes not even that.

Man Regains His Eyesight and 15 Years of Memories in Touching Short Doc

There's a simple, obvious power housed inside of a photograph. Even a poorly lit snapshot captured at arm's length with a few friends squeezed uncomfortably into the frame, even it is immeasurably precious because it contains the seeds of a memory.

This short doc by Google Photos reminds us of that fact.

Facebook’s Moments App Can Now Turn Your Photos Into Movies

Earlier this year, Facebook launched the Moments app for both iOS and Android. Similar to many other applications out there, Moments is aimed at combining your photographs and your friends’ photographers from a single event into an easy to navigate album (and then uploading them to Facebook, of course). Today, the app has received an update that can automatically create movies from your experiences.

Anniversary Photo Sharing App Combines Nostalgia and the Element of Surprise

An app called Anniversary is putting a new spin on remembering and reliving the visual moments we capture with our phones.

Rather than the usual method of instantly sharing an image or video on a social media network, Anniversary lets you share your memories with a friend on a future date of your choosing. The plan, of course, is to surprise the friend with a dose of nostalgia when they're least expecting it.

Creative 3-Generation Photos Explore How Emotions & Time Transform Memories

Photographer Nina Röder's photo series Mutter Schuhe (Translated: Mother’s Shoes) is a visual exploration of how time, emotions and perspective affect memories. Three generation -- Röder, her mother and her grandmother -- all dressed the same, posed slightly differently, reliving Röder's mother's childhood memories from their own perspectives.

Print What You Want to Preserve

August 30, 2026
My dear child,

I can't believe that tomorrow at this time my little girl will be a married woman. I look back on the last 24 years and I want to do it all over again. I know that can't happen, but I do have my memories, at least.

Hey Apple: Regular People Have No Idea How To Manage Photos On Their iPhone

I'm serious, they don't. They don't know that they don't, but they don't. If you grab a co-workers iPhone and they have 2500 photos on the camera roll, then you know they don't. They'll just keep taking photos and assume "the cloud" or whatever is backing it up.

For a time, it is.

The Science of G.A.S.

People will do just about anything to alleviate their anxiety. During the last year of writing my doctoral thesis, the worry about being able to finish grew increasingly heavy. The relentless grind of research, constantly being told that your work is inadequate, and believing that 80-hour workweeks are average has its tolls on all students. Once you reach the edge of this process and are pulverized into oblivion, you get a nice, shiny PhD.

You may be wondering what got me through this. The answer? Buying a ton of camera equipment. To photographers, this type of retail therapy is known as gear acquisition syndrome. Someone with this syndrome impulsively buys cameras and related gear, amassing more camera gear than they can realistically use.

Manipulated Photographs, Manipulated Memories

Photo manipulation is nearly as old, if not as old, as photography itself. It has been used in state propaganda, to unify nations, for aesthetic and creative expression, to generate fear, and the list goes on and on.

As technology advances, altering photographic images has become quite easy. This begs the question: do the images we see convey accurate information?

Memories, Photographs, and the Human Brain

There has been a good deal written about the similarities of the camera to the eye as well as the computer to human memory. What I would like to do is clarify the uniqueness of the human brain from camera technology and at the same time show the similarities between brain function, photography and cognition.

App To Let You Preserve Your Life with a One-Second Video of Each Day

First, there was a competition, which suggested that one second of video could capture a unique, meaningful moment. Then a young woman from LA used roughly one second of footage per day to document a year in her life. And then finally, Cesar Kuriyama's similar video documenting his frivolous year off work following his 30th birthday went viral.

Apparently, the idea of documenting each day of your life with a one-second video clip has taken off. And following a flurry of "I wanna do that!" comments, Kuriyama has decided to make the process that much easier for others wishing to follow in his and Madeline's footsteps by creating the 1 Second Everyday app.

Microsoft Files Patent for Lifestreaming, Storing Your Memories in Its Cloud

Humans like preserving their memories. That's one of the big reasons we take pictures. What if you didn't need to actively do anything to preserve those memories? What if you could simply wear cameras that constantly capture photos and videos that are safely stored for your later viewing pleasure? With the rate at which technology -- particularly storage technology -- is increasing, we may soon find "lifestreaming" to be the next big thing.

Microsoft apparently thinks so, and wants a big piece of that pie. The company has filed a patent for "life streaming", and hopes to one day be the data store for all your passively-recorded memories.

Memories for Memories: Portraits of Estate Sale Buyers

Photographer Gloria Baker Feinstein recently moved due to some health issues her husband was dealing with. As part of the transition, the couple was forced to sell off some of their possessions in an estate sale. To cope with the emotional difficulty of parting with precious memories, Feinstein decided to shoot iPhone portraits of buyers as they left with her things -- creating new memories as old ones left the door.