photographs

A Writing from the Skateboard Mag
words by Steve Berra
page 065

Photographs are fascinating.
They show us how things were while subsequently telling us they aren’t that way anymore.
They tell us everything in the past tense.
They tell us we were younger.
They tell us we were skinnier, fatter, hairier, uglier, prettier, more alive, or more dead than now.
They tell us what cars we drove, what friends we have, what clothes we wore, what tricks we did on what, and where we were when we did them.
They tell us how embarrassing, frustrating, saddening, and exhilarating life was or wasn’t for us at the time.
They tell us that everything we’re looking at in a photograph is different than it used to be, and that its an empirical fact that nothing remains exactly the same forever.

That’s what’s fascinating about a photograph; it can serve as kind of a yardstick for progression or digression.
You can look at one of yourself and ask, ”Have I changed for better or for worse since this[photo] was taken? Have I been a good friend or haven’t I? Have I done my job well or have I not?”

Regardless of what the answer is, you can always change, because nothing in this universe stays exactly the same forever, including yourself.