I've always heard that time moves faster the older you get. I couldn’t understand that while I was a teenager. In my twenties, I was moving too fast to listen. In my thirties, I was too busy building a career to care. Now that I’m 45 - and fabulous :), I know exactly what that means. It seems like just a couple of weeks ago, it was Memorial Day. The reality is it’s almost Halloween. …and I’m ok with that! I love fall or hadn’t you noticed?!
What I’m finding out as I watch the seasons speed by is that
I don’t have enough evidence of the season having arrived or what I did to
enjoy each season. I used to have the
excuse of “Oh, man! I left my camera at
home” or “Darn it! The store messed up my pictures (this new generations call
‘em pics).” However, smartphones have
done two things: they have made it easy to have a camera with you all the time. The other awesome thing about having a smartphones
is the ability to share your pics as often as you like, with whomever you like,
in as many different ways as you like.
So far, we can share pics via social media (you can upload a pic to ANY
social media platform), via email as an attachment, from the magical cloud, Air Drop, text,
FaceTime … it’s endless. Which in itself
is cool. The big rub is, how many of us
actually take the kind of pictures that record our memories? We take pics of idiots who parallel park over
three spaces or the guy in Wal-Mart dressed as a Care Bear. I just don’t know if we want a photo stream
filled with kind of stuff. Well, I
don’t.
Here’s what started this thought process. My iPhone alerted me earlier this week that I
had a software update waiting to install. ...and who am I NOT to install
something my phone thinks I need? I
downloaded iOS 10 (sidenote: So far, I’m loving the upgrades!). One of the coolest features is the Memories
Button you can find on the bottom bar of your camera app. That feature provides a slide show of the
pictures you’ve taken for the last three months and the best pics you’ve taken through
the year. What a cool idea, right? Right!..until you look at your slide show and
see pictures of a grocery list, the cable hanging off the roof, the dent in the
fender. I keep thinking, “I know I did
stuff, why don’t I have better pics?” The only reason I’ve come up with is, I
just can’t remember to take the pictures.
This is where the 45 years old part comes in.
In my attempt to be keep informed of the latest trends in
social media, I ran across something called a “30 Day Picture Challenge.” It’s exactly what it sounds like. Someone somewhere writes out a list of
pictures participants should take - one per day. Pic Challenge categories include general photography
challenges, theme challenges (Halloween), monthly challenges (March), seasonal
challenges (fall), travel challenges (road trips), location challenges (Rome),
hourly challenges, and LOTS MORE! In other words, if the 30 Day Pic Challenge is about Spring things, you'll take one pic a day with a spring theme. In fact, you'll take a pic of the item listed for that day on the list of pics. For example, on day one you take a pic of a tulip. Day two, you take a pic of a sunrise. Day three, you take a pic of Easter decorations, and so on.
As the pics are taken, participants can either post those
pictures on a website or their social media accounts, save them to their
computer, or print them to include in a photo album. Either method ensures the memories of a
particular season or event are captured for a lifetime…no matter how quickly time
flies.
Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall’s (JBM-HH) Family &
Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (Family & MWR) have been on the 30 Day Pic
Challenge band wagon for at least a year.
We list the current pic challenge in the fmwR&R magazine (visit www.jbmhhfmwr.com
to see the current challenge) or on our Instagram page (search @jbmhhfmwr). If you visit our Instagram page, you will be
able to see pictures we’ve taken when we’ve participated in one of our own pic challenges.
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