Photography in its essence is an act of preservation. Capture a moment and save it for later. One of the most impactful advances in its technology was Nicéphore Niépce finding a way to fix an image on a sheet of paper. Before Niépce, the image would evaporate from the page in the small window of time when sunlight light hit it.

I think that we’re moving on from that idea. Saving a moment for later, that is. Things aren’t built to sustain the test of time, instead things are built for the desires that exist in nearly the same moment as when they were captured. The way that we record information for social media has blurred the difference between now and past tense. Images are not captured moments to cherish years down the road, instead they are an action to share online immediately. Both thought processes, saving for later and immediate action, come with their own shortcomings. With time, old pictures may read differently depending on how much the context changes in that period of time. When things are only created for immediate consumption we get sloppy, needy, and jealous.

So, this is me, sitting here with hard drives full of memories, sharing something special with you. As you read these words, you are also scrolling through images of the Parthenon replica near Nashville, Tennessee. These are photographs that I took in 2021 on grainy black and white film. It feels oddly fitting that the images in this post is a copy of something larger, more special, and from a time long ago in a distant place from our collected human history. Yes, I am talking about the Parthenon. I vaguely remember taking these pictures. I was in a weird, scared headspace vacationing from running a retail space during a global pandemic. I’m glad that I took a moment to breath some fresh air and take pictures on this sunny Summer day.