Being a Memory Hoarder
The Fennimore Golden Eagles boys cross country team won its second straight meet early in the season. They qualified for the state tournament as a team in 2022 and are currently ranked #1 by the Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association. This team includes all four members of the 2023 State Track 4x800m relay champions.
It took me to the age of 31 to discover that I have a photographic memory. The lightbulb turned on one day while I was taking an exam during one of my final-semester classes before student teaching. I read the exam question, closed my eyes and found the image in my mind of the page of notes I had taken, and both “read" those notes and “heard” the professor speaking the same words as in the question with the rest of the answer. To say the least, that was unexpected. However, the blessing of that lesson is the journey back to finding myself as a memory hoarder and to my path to photography as a passion.
There is plenty of time and an endless amount of internet space available to describe the very unique and twisty path that is my photographic memory and method of thinking in pictures (aka the memory hoard). I mention it because it seems that my very first blog post is a great time to tell the world why I love doing what I do. One of the young men in the photo above is the son of my childhood across-the-street neighbor and lifelong friend. She and I also happen to have been members of the high school volleyball team that earned the title of state runners-up when we were juniors. To say that those memories are priceless is an understatement…especially because I have almost no physical or digital images from the entirety of that season.
As an athlete and as a mom/mom of athletes, I cherish the ability to look back at every moment that was captured - especially those that differ from the exact view that I had at the time. When I capture and then share images of athletes in the act of doing what they love, I get to feel the same pride and love as his/her/their parents, because I know that I have stopped time for them. Using my skills as a photographer to stop time also allows parents to be in the moment and experience the sport as it’s happening, rather than trying to watch through a screen or use a smartphone camera to capture what my equipment will create more easily and usually with better quality.
“Hoarding” - maybe better stated as valuing - and creating memories in the form of images is something that gives me such great joy and helps me make sense of the world. It gives me the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people - athletes, parents, coaches, other fans, and random citizens who I likely wouldn’t otherwise know. It allows me to connect emotionally with people during some of the best and also the most difficult moments of their athletic careers, and it gives me a reason to go to bed every night and wake up every morning with a smile on my face. I get to see Nick tomorrow, I get to help him remember some of the most important events of his life, and I get to share them with Deanna and the other people who love Nick. Memory hoarding, aka creating and collecting the visual reminders of thousands of people’s life experiences, is one of my reasons for loving who I am. You enjoy your child’s/your athletic adventures. I’ll be here to remind you how they looked.
