Through the lens of a disposable camera

I made a spontaneous decision not long after arriving in London. I purchased a disposable camera, thinking it’d be a fun way to capture the best memories from my 7 weeks abroad. This was, perhaps, one of the best spontaneous decisions I made on this trip, as it was a lot of fun carefully composing my pictures and trying to decide which moments were worthy of the disposable! And so, as my final blog post about my time in London, I present to you for your enjoyment: the story of my study abroad, through the lens of a disposable camera.

I’m sure you all know how a disposable camera works, but for the sake of this post, here are the basic characteristics of a disposable that sets it apart from a phone or a digital camera. Number one, you only get one shot to take the picture you want. Once you’ve clicked the button, there’s no taking that photo back. I guess you could try to re-take the picture, but that would only waste another of your precious photos. Which brings me to the second characteristic: you only have a limited number of photos you can take on each camera. This means you have to be selective in the pictures you take, in the moments you decide to capture for time and all eternity. And the third and final characteristic I want to remind you of: you don’t get to see the pictures until after they’ve been developed. This creates a feeling of mystery and anticipation surrounding the disposable…you never know if any given picture is a work of art or a complete flop. But that’s all part of the excitement isn’t it?

Each of these three characteristics of a disposable camera has also taught me an important lesson about life and how to make the most of it. The first is this: sometimes the best moments aren’t recognized as such until they’ve become a memory. By this, I mean that a lot of the time, we go through life experiencing different things, meeting different people, without necessarily thinking to ourselves “this is going to be a beautiful memory, I had better savor it.” More often than not, it’s not until we’re looking backward and reminiscing that the most beautiful moments really start to stand out and shine. This makes me wonder whether it’s possible to increase the number of moments in my life that are glorious to me as they’re happening. Why do I have to wait until a moment has passed to appreciate it for all that it was worth? I would much rather recognize its worth in the moment; I feel like that would make it so much more meaningful.

Before wrapping up that thought, I want to move on to the second lesson I learned from my disposable: Life is a finite thing. Just like a disposable camera only has 27 or so pictures, our days here in this life are numbered. This lesson can be taken in two very different directions. On the one hand, you can allow yourself to spiral into despair and hopelessness, doubting the meaning of life itself. But on the other hand, you can look at this finite time as a precious gift, something to be cherished and enhanced. With that mindset, the worth of each moment increases exponentially, certainly not something to be wasted.

The third—and I think most impactful—lesson I learned was the fact that time doesn’t ever stop, slow down, or even move backwards. With my disposable camera, once you’ve snapped a picture, that picture can’t be taken back or re-done. Similarly, once a moment has passed through the reach of the present moment, there’s no getting it back. For better or for worse, that moment has passed into the past, where it will remain forever. We only get one chance to live each moment that comes before us, so it is our duty to make it the best moment it can be.

My point in bringing up all these lessons, is merely to present the argument that life deserves to be savored. We only get one chance to live each moment, we have a finite number of moments in our lives, and the beauty of those moments can be maximized by choosing to appreciate it as it’s playing out. My disposable camera taught me that life is fleeting, but absolutely incredible. The task of this life, I believe, is to learn how to live it to its fullest, and to appreciate it as it deserves to be appreciated. We need to be purposeful in the way we live our lives, choosing to do things that make us happy and choosing to be happy about the things we do. Make each moment one that is worth living and worth remembering, but don’t forget to appreciate it as it’s passing by. The name of the game is savoring, and my disposable camera taught me just how important it is to savor each moment we encounter, especially the ones we want to remember for years to come.

I like to think of my study abroad experience as a series of moments in my life, grouped into one snapshot that I will always have to cherish. It truly was a one-in-a-lifetime experience, something I will never experience again. But as sad as it was to leave London, it brings me a lot of satisfaction and closure knowing that I will forever have the memories I made while I was there. And of course, I will have all of the photos taken on my disposable (as well as the hundreds that were taken on phones and cameras) as hard evidence to remind me of the lessons I learned, beauty I witnessed, and the friendships I formed. There is a part of me that didn’t want to leave London, that wanted to stay there forever in the city that grew to become my happy place. But stronger than that wish, is the desire and determination I have to all my time in London to simply remain another incredible, delightful, brilliant chapter in the story of my life. More often than not, even the most beautiful things in life must eventually come to a close. But that does not mean those beautiful things mean less or are forgotten. It is up to us to choose to savor those moments, to make them all that they can be, and then some :) Life is a magical, fantastic thing if we make it so!

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It would have been fitting, I think, to have posted all the pictures I took with my disposable camera here...but as those haven't been developed yet, that wouldn't quite work. So instead, I compiled some pictures that captured some of the happiest moments during my time in Europe!

When we went to the National Gallery, there were some guys passing out chalk to people so they could make their mark in one of these chalk hearts. A great spontaneous activity we decided to partake in :)

This one goes out to Barry, our lovely bus driver. After visiting Stonehenge, he took the liberty of straying from our schedule to show us this cool ancient burial mound. Yay for more spontaneous excursions!

This picture was taken inside the Giggling Squid, aka literally the BEST Thai restaurant I've ever been to.

And this pic is a tribute to the adventure and a half that we like to call "Our Trip to the London Temple." Although it was a bit of a nightmare facing obstacle after obstacle on our way to the temple, it was such a blessing when we finally got there and were able to do some sealings :)

Oh, and this picture is only a snapshot of one of the BEST moments of my life, when I saw my absolute favorite musical live, and in London! *insert several heart-eye emojis*

On our first night in Paris, we went on a lovely river cruise on the Seine, timed just perfectly to catch the sunset. Such a beautiful time :)

Another picture from another DELICIOUS restaurant! We tried steak and frite (aka steak and fries), a traditional French dish, and it was most definitely a meal worth savoring!

This picture captures the relaxing moment we had sitting by the water in the gardens at Versailles. I was able to pull out my sketchbook for a bit too, which was always lovely and much appreciated :)

On our last day in Paris, we got some gyros and enjoyed them while sitting on the edge of the Seine! We also had a fun time making up stories about the cute couple sitting across the river. #pleasetellushowyourstoryends

This picture was taken while we were just chillin by Trevi Fountain in Rome. Nothing in particular happened there...it was just a really blissful, relaxing moment!

Oh and of course, I can't forget the time when Hannah and I decided to ride the cute carousel we stumbled upon while wandering the streets of Rome!

Even though our trip to the Rome temple was just about as stressful as the trip to the London temple, it was still an amazing experience. Definitely one of my favorite temples!!

Ali took this picture on our way back from the picturesque (but incredible steep and taxing) hike we went on in the Lake District. We were jamming to some tunes on our way down, and just having a ball of a time :)

And this one is from the Isle of Wight, when we literally almost got blown away from the INSANE wind. It was absolutely beautiful though!

It was so fun trying to take this picture of everybody!! What a stellar group :)

And of course...did you really go to London if you didn't take a picture with a red telephone booth??

Well. That's all for now, folks :)

-Em