Simple Photos

This picture will forever remind me of the mark Liliane has left on my heart. I know what you're thinking... a simple picture of a little girls shoes? Where is the significance in that? And how the heck does that translate to the love a mother has for her daughter?

Let me tell you about the significance of simple photos.

Simple photos make up the most extraordinary aspects of our lives. Photos evoke emotion at a single glance. Photos serve as reminders, evidence that we've been somewhere, done something, loved someone. Photos immortalize us and freeze moments of time to be relived over and over. 

As a memory keeper, I'm inclined to take pictures to document my little family's mark on life. Picture taking is a hobby I claim no expertise in. I do it for me, and for my family, because I want to look back at the photos I capture to remember what was and is most precious to me. 

Simple photos tell stories. On the day the above photo was taken I came across Liliane's little shoes placed ever-so-perfectly on my mom's back porch. I had just worked a long day and was eager to pick up my children from their daytime caregiver (my wonderful mother) and head back home to our house. But when I saw these spunky little shoes, I paused. Liliane had been there, I thought to myself. Her shoes lay in the precise place that she left them. For whatever reason, the sight of these shoes spoke volumes to me. Her sweet shoes were evidence of her existence, proof that she's real, that she's mine. I took this photo to remember that wave of emotion, that feeling of absolute love that overcame me after a long day away from my children. 

Simple photos are windows to our lives. Lately I've noticed a void where picking up my real camera  (i.e. my Canon 70D) is concerned, and as I recollect on the importance of simple photos, I find myself eager and ready to resolve to capture more simple photos of our life, the bits and pieces that make up our whole.