The power of photography is the ultimate time travel.
Organizing the house during the past weekend I found some old rolls of film taken by my grandfather. Sadly I never got the chance to meet him as he passed away before my parents were even married. Finding the old box full of film rolls felt like finding a long-forgotten treasure. For a moment it gave me a chance to peek into his world and see it the way he had seen and captured it.
The film was developed but never printed due to the lack of quality print shops back then. Virtually no one had seen these photos for a few decades!
The view of the Baku City Hall from his office at Baku State Institute of Projects, 1972
Looking at the film strips through the light I saw familiar scenes: our summer house with
the old mulberry tree that grew right next to it, my cousins running around freely as children do in the summer, and the waves of the Caspian Sea. It felt like I was there, I could remember it, except, I couldn't. I travelled through time and although it seemed like these moments were from another universe, they felt like Home.
The top photo of my mom was taken during one of their family vacations in the 70s. I am completely in awe of this moment captured so perfectly.
Perhaps photography has become less of a novelty today, but the beauty of it is that it allows more people to capture their everyday lives. If nothing else, I know that there is power in the images that we take that will last through the years and inspire future generations.
