Passage One

When I was around 10 years old, I remember staying at my great aunt and uncle's in Derbyshire. I visited them every summer, and this particular year, they gave me a plastic camera that they'd received free with a purchase. I felt like I'd been given the world.

I remember the joy of photographing everything I could, sending them to Triple Print and waiting for the results in the post. I have boxes and boxes of prints, all full of memories: photos of blue skies， brightly coloured gardens, photos of us girls pulling faces, and my brother's bike.

As I matured, I took photography classes and learnt how to develop and process photos. I learnt about composition and how to make a photo attractive. As soon as I started working, all my money went on film, prints and albums. There was such a pleasure in feeling the photos in your hands and of adding them to albums.

Over time, photography has progressed--it’s simple to photograph every detail of your day: your meals, your workout, your night out. Our entire lives can be documented in digital form. But what do we do with those images? Are they lost forever to the Cloud(云盘)?

I've spent many an hour going through my granddad's photo collection, wondering who all the faces were , why they were all dressed up that particular day, what they were laughing at, or who owned the dog.

I treasure my own printed photos, and all the memories they bring to me. I still print photos from my phone and display them around my house. Once they're down, I'll store them in a memory box before the next lot goes up on display. Maybe, in years to come, my future generations will discover them and laugh at our sense of fashion and the silly faces that we pull.