What We Lost With the Invention of the Photograph

Nature can at times be overwhelmingly beautiful. Especially when you realize it will last only for a moment. I struggle at times whether to take a photograph or not. 

I read once that before there were photographs people were inclined to believe that something else, God, the universe, was seeing their moments and capturing them for them. Keeping them safe and tangible somewhere in another reality.

There is a beauty in that thought. It shows trust in something bigger than us. A belief that all the beauty we experience is seen and stored up somewhere for us to enjoy. >>

Lately, almost everyone, including myself, has been overcome by the feeling to capture all the beautiful and interesting things we see with a camera. We try to hold on to these moments ourselves. Maybe if we capture them, they won’t fleet, they will stay with us.

And though that is true in a sense, I do think we lost something profound with the invention of the photograph: The trust that God sees us and enjoys these moments with us. The trust that every day He will put beautiful things on our path for us to enjoy. That He keeps it all. And that He remembers everything.  

Maybe it’s better at times to keep the camera in our bags and pockets. To see the beauty and see it as a gift from God to us, and to realize that He’s there enjoying it with us. To praise the maker of all things for what He made.

And He will keep it :)