I'm the friend that documents everything. I want group pictures, I want individual photos, I want there to be documented proof that at one point we were all this tan, this happy, and this young. Everyone groans when I whip out my phone, and half of the photos are deleted because someone is mid-protest, but taking pictures is important.

I recently stumbled upon boxes of old photos, like the kind that were taken in the 90s with disposable cameras or the cameras with the refillable film. As I looked through these photos--and realized that I clearly peaked as a child--I saw familiar faces that I will never get to see again. And while I got choked up shuffling through old family photos, I also laughed out loud at some of the ridiculous things my cousins and I had partaken in. As I took this 3+ hour jaunt down memory lane, laughing and sending pictures of pictures to everyone I realized that these photos mean so much to me now, and I should continue to take photos that I will be able to look back on in another 20 years.

As morbid as it may seem, you never know when you're going to see someone for the last time. You are going to want photos that you can look back on, that document the time you spent together, and help you feel close to someone who might be far away.

While going through all of these photos I realized that there was not a single one of my Uncle Jim and I. He died about two years ago, and every time I go through photos I hold my breath hoping to find one of the two of us. I wish I could shake the awkward and sullen preteen version of myself who refused to be in pictures, and explain that while these aren't the most attractive times in my life, there are memories being made now, that I will wish I had documented later. I regret every time i skirted just out of a photo frame, or threw a tantrum in order to ensure my blotchy and tear stained face wouldn't be photographed.

For a while I stayed behind the camera, I was photo credited on hundreds of myspace photos, while only had a handful of my own. This was my way of avoiding the camera lens, while still being a part of the memory. But as the social media image sharing frenzy escalated so did my comfort with being in photographs--my editing skills made me more comfortable sharing them.

Photographs capture and freeze any given moment. That is why some of the most momentous and happiest occasions in our lives have photographers and videographers. So why shouldn't the little moments, like birthday brunches, beach days, and nights out with the gang be documented as well? We are at a time in our lives where people are moving away to chase their dreams and pursue new careers, so make sure you have photos of the ones you love to look back on when you're sitting alone with a bowl of ramen in an apartment that isn't within driving distance.

Candid and artsy photos are the newest social media fad--guilty AF for asking friends to take a "candid"--and while these photos help our lives look more aesthetically pleasing, or exciting, or effortlessly fun-filled, the real candid photos, or posed photos with genuine smiles are the most meaningful when you look back on them. There is a photo of me in the lap of my late Aunt, and she is smiling down at me, while i look up at her lovingly--she probably promised to snag me a dessert or a candy bar to be fair--but this photo shows me that even though I don't remember this moment with my great aunt, it's clear that we were both happy to be in each other's presence. And while it may have been a forced family function, this was not a forced interaction.

Another fun thing to make a tradition is a photo recreation. Every three years my giant extended family gets together, and every three years we recreate a photo, and my cousins and I specifically go out onto the beach and take the same photo. We love looking back and how much we've changed from one reunion to the next. My siblings and I recreate our old childhood photos because its hilarious that now as the shortest sibling I'm holding one of my other siblings. These kinds of memories will show the progression of our lives, our hairstyles and our fashion choices despite the lack of change in our love for one another.

Take photos--or relent without much protest when the paparazzi friend tells you to smile--and make memories worth photographing to put on your wall, which eventually get cycled through and end up in a box that one day you will stumble across. The moment where you see an old photo and are instantly transported back to that time and that event, or are covered with the blanket of warm and fuzzy feelings, it will all be worth pausing eating that cheesecake to smile.