Let’s face it, summer is short. Sometimes we want to hang onto those moments for a little longer than we can. That’s where those lovely summer memories come into play. I have a few ways that I like to create and document my summer. While they aren’t anything new, I hope it sparks some inspiration for how you can create and document your own summer memories.
Photograph everything
I try to take photos of everything. If I don’t have a camera, I’ve got my phone ready to do. Late at night I’ll browse through the photos I took during the day. I love to use the app VSCO to edit my photos. After that I’ll use the UNUM app to organize and post my photos to instagram. They might be simple photos (right now I’m digging deep blue sky photography) but they make me happy. It’s important to photograph what makes you happy, remember that! I don’t often print photos but the ones that I do remind me of far off places from a long time ago.
Experience the moment
Sometimes being in the moment is enough to make and chronicle internal memories. THere have been so many times that I’ve been unable to take out a camera. Instead I make mental notes and hope I can remember them later. If I need help I do have a tip. I play music that reminds me of those experiences. I relate the two and they become one memory. From there, everything I hear that song, I’ll recall those fantastic memories I made along the way. It’s a good way to keep memories fresh and intangible.
Take note of smells
Everytime I go to Amsterdam, I remember the scent of the canals and the street food. The scent of summer on people’s skins as they walk through the sunlight streets. I often recall the oily smell that comes from french fries or the sickly sweetness of walking outside a donut shop. Scent is one of the strongest ways to recall a memory. Using that to your advantage is a simple yet effective way to document mental memories that can be triggered!
Find the perfect journal
If you need something to touch and hold, find the perfect journal and spend the whole summer filling every last page. It’s important to use the whole journal for one summer. This way you’ll have volumes of different summers to pull out and reminisce about. If you keep too many summers in one book they might melt together. If you’re a fan of this, then by all means, enjoy it! I’m a bit of a perfectionist though and I would rather have a collection to keep my memories in. This also means more time taking photos and putting together beautiful spreads.
Remind yourself of the past
The photos I have above my desk are photos from California. One I took while driving home after work one evening. The sun was setting over Lake Mathews and the hills that surround it. My brother and I had gone to a house to photograph for a real estate agent. The evening was cool because it was late summer. While this photo is beautiful, it is bitter sweet. It had not even a year since my father had passed away.
The other photo is when Sander and I went to Laguna beach to see the sunset. We had made it there before the sun had vanished. I wanted to remember that night forever. It was our last night in California. We were on a flight back to Holland the day after it. The two weeks we spent there were the best of my life. It was another bittersweet memory. I seem to have a lot of those!
Either way, I hope you’re inspired to create something of your own now! Documenting the summer can seem like an impossible task but it’s not! It’s an enjoyable experience that can be as laid back or as involved as you want it to be!
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