The Importance of Photographs and Memories

Image of Carla Coulson at the beach in the 60's Australia

This summer I had the joy of spending a month in Australia reconnecting with my family, friends and my mother’s garage, sifting through photographs & memories.

Every trip home ends or starts in the garage!! My mother’s joy of decluttering could outdo Mari Kondo and in fact I’m not sure why mum doesn’t have her own Netflix show on it. Her love of decluttering may have something to do with the fact that mum has moved her whole life, loves order and peace (of the visual kind) in her house and garage.

So down we went, opened up the garage door to let the sunshine and fragrance of frangipani in and we went through the remaining boxes of my life that we had already scoured the year before for any superfluous things that might be lurking in its depths.

I humoured her because for the life of me I remembered having my garage goodies down to the bare essentials. When we opened the big wooden boxes that housed my stuff there were the copies of Chasing a Dream, Italian Joy and My French Life that remained like precious jewels that I wanted to hang on to forever. There was my uncle’s beloved Voigtländer camera that we were never getting rid of, my collection of CD’s and my photos.

Image of children playing in a backyard pool australia 1960's

Image mother and child 1960's Australia

Mum and I started digging through the remains to see if there was anything that could be recycled, given away or tossed. We ended up as we always do getting side swiped by memories, the ones we found in the photos and there we were sitting amongst the mess in wonder at these beautiful old photos of my mum and dad, so elegant, young and beautiful and my brothers and sisters who were free and joyous in childhood.

For so long in your 20’s, 30’,s & 40’s, your life feels like it stands still and that things move slowly and then one day you dip into the box, you realise you are over 50 and even though you still feel like 30 on the inside we have become the grown-ups (well you know what I mean).

It may be my age, it may be that I live on the other side of the world, it may be that the world is conscious of all the stuff that is destroying our planet but I can no longer stand having stuff in my life except the photos of our lives which will always remain a treasure.

Image mother and daughters 1960's Australia park

Image first day of kindergarten Australia 1960's

In these faded sometimes blurry images are the echoes of the sea, laughter, possibility, love, friendship and family. They are more than just an image, they are the energetic representation of our lives, of our ancestors and where we come from. When we go, they are the only thing we leave along with the memories and stories.

Photographs & Memories

So I will leave you with some of the treasures we found in the garage this year, that we scanned from old slides, the memories it brought back into our lives and the words of Aaron Siskind, “Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”

Look after your photos.

Love and light,

Carla x

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
13 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Nicola Swynnerton
Nicola Swynnerton
4 years ago

Love this. I have moved around the world so much that it is my photos that are my biggest treasure, as they can move with me. My daughter Charley turns 30 this week,and it was only last night that I dug out old photos of her growing up from day one of being born, and realise how quickly time passes, but the photos bring back memories of some wonderful and fun times. x

Andrea
Andrea
4 years ago

Beautiful Carla…so true. I lived and worked overseas in my 20s and turned 40 last week. But those years feel like 5 years ago. How quickly time suddenly passes!!’ I still feel like that 22 year old girl in many ways and thanks to my photos and memories….that time overseas will hopefully continue to feel ’recent for a little longer. Xx

Veronique Marot
4 years ago

Just fabulous my friend! My brother has been scanning and converting film for the family! Wonderful souvenirs!!!

Corrina Tough
4 years ago

So true Carla! Im tackling my boxes of photos soon and I imagine it will be an emotional rollercoaster ride! I am so thankful I have them xx

Angela Jordan
Angela Jordan
4 years ago

Carla
The picture with the ducks is so beautiful it’s ‘picture perfect ‘
I treasure the few black and whites I have of my parents

Dana McCaskill
Dana McCaskill
4 years ago

Hi Carla- your mother sounds like a wonderful person. I treasure my photos but do get overwhelmed with what to do with them all!
The photo of your and your family with the ducks is the best!🧡🧡

Pamela MacEachern
Pamela MacEachern
4 years ago

What a beautiful story. I remember going to my grandmothers cottage and the first thing I would do is go to her trunk full of albums and spend the afternoon going through her albums. When she passed, she left her precious albums to me. They are my most sacred possession.

Robyn Kreymborg
Robyn Kreymborg
4 years ago

Love love love this Carla 💖 it’s so true you can spend hours over old photos and the photos you said evoke memories laughter friendship possibilities that is so true love it ✨💖🙏 and as you said you feel a certain age but before you know it the number tells you something different and a trip down memory lane through photographs for me anyway leaves me feeling blessed grateful and thankful for a wonderful life so far ✨🙏💖

Sharon Hobbs
4 years ago

I didn’t want this to end Carla! You had me in the first sentence! Photos are so precious. Only yesterday I went looking for photo albums of my boys when they were young as I suddenly realised while lying in bed the night before and having just moved house I didn’t know where they were. I found them and marked the unpacked box ‘grab in case of fire’ and put them in easy reach! It’s a reminder in this world of digital imagery to make the effort to print special photos either individually or make them into a book so that they are easily looked at and valued. Thanks for sharing your memories.

Jeanette Coulson
Jeanette Coulson
4 years ago

Yes today I was in the garage again and also in the wardrobe (and Dad’s ) ( what is the new saying Whoo hoo )🤣😂🤩