Get in the picture, sweetheart.

Stop waiting for a more photogenic Tuesday

Perhaps you are the person who takes every photograph. You remember the birthdays, gather everyone into the light, and somehow disappear from the record. Or perhaps you keep promising yourself that you will join in after a haircut, after the busy season, after you feel more like yourself. You deserve a place in the frame today.

Let a little ordinary life in

The photograph does not need a coordinated outfit or a perfect room. A coffee on the porch counts. So does the pancake that looks more like a continent. These small details give a picture its particular life. Leave a little of the mess in; it tells the truth about the day.

Make it easy to be included

Hand someone your phone and ask for one photograph together. Take a second if you want to. Then put the phone away and return to the moment. You do not owe anyone an upload. A private album is a perfectly lovely place for a memory.

A small thing for today

Choose a moment you would like to remember and put yourself in it. Write the date and one sentence about what was happening. Ten years from now, that sentence may be as precious as the picture.