I’ve had two conversations in the last week about photos either being deleted and then recovered when their value was realized, or photos that were simply brushed aside as only so-so and then rediscovered years later, like finding some lost treasure. This photo was actually destined to be relegated to one of those piles - delete, or “meh” - until I accidentally edited it (endless thanks, Adobe, for the ability to batch edit.)

And suddenly, I fell in love with it.

But it’s funny how your relationship with a photo can change over time, and what sort of things can change it. Emotion for one, and memory. Some photos are easy to write off at first glance, but are so steeped in the ardor of a specific moment they hold a magic that can’t be undone. Which reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from the book, “Living in the Woods in a Tree” by Sybil Rosen:

Emotion stains memory like a photographic tint, fading the past or imbuing it with a black-and-white clarity so crystalline it remains inalterably present.