What does Photography mean to me?

     I never really thought about this topic before and every time I take a picture with my cell phone, I don't think about why I'm doing it. After going through Photography Changes Everything and really understanding what it was trying to say, I started looking at all my pictures on my phone and around my house on the walls. Photography is everything in this world and more importantly to me it is memories and nostalgia. While this might be a common and maybe boring answer, it is all I think about. Seeing pictures of me at like a concert or a big sports game makes me rethink about myself being there at that moment and think of all the smells and how I was feeling at the time even if the picture itself didn't capture that. In the reading, it even mentions memories in photography in its own little section near the end. It discusses how our memory is foggy and photos help remember our own individual experiences. I have used photography so much in my daily life and don't even realize it. The reading makes a point of that, and I still had to think long and hard about all of the things i use photography for. I use it for keeping track of important information like notes in classes or through communication through Snapchat. 

    Photography is so many things it is unbelievable. In the reading, the author talks about his photography meeting with many different experts in many different fields. The main point was that each person had different uses for photography and different meanings on what it meant to them. My point here is that I believe photography can be whatever meaning to anybody. They can think whatever they want to about photography and what it means to them. Everyone is different and everyone might not have the same opinion on photography and what it means. While mine might be a common answer with memory and nostalgia, that is what photography means to me. I look at some old pictures of myself and think about those times when I was little and the world to me wasn't so complicated, and everything was so easy with little stress and so much fun. There are also pictures of me with passed away family members and pets who I miss dearly. Those photos make me think about those people and/or animals and what they meant to me and so that I always remember the good and bad memories with them. Nostalgia and memories will always be the meaning of photography to me. Is that all photography is? Of course not, but that is the beauty of Photography; it is whatever you want it to be.