Photography, as an art, alters the dynamic of photographer and subject into something inaccessible: If you're not a photographer, then you're not able to do what they do. So we push ourselves into this thought process that pictures are something meant only for those that get paid to do it well. It's a misconception, though, if you look through your Instagram and Facebook posts, then you'll realize you can be a photographer too. You just need to find that inspiring moment and capture it. No matter what kind of camera you have.

I asked a friend (and my editor for the Odyssey), Kollin Kirven, to do a photo session for me because I've missed so much of my sister growing up since I've been away at school. I wanted to highlight our current relationship as big sister and little sister before she grew up too quickly. Plus, I love having my picture taken. Kollin did an amazing job, and she's not even a "professional" yet like the ones that get paid to do it. She's just a girl that loves photography, and she invested a decent sum of money into a high quality camera. And if you think for one second that we posed for this, then you've never danced in a pile of leaves with an 8-year-old girl.

The perfect moment is evanescent, you can't plan it

I'm not sure about anyone else, but if I'm posing for the camera, I never breathe. I'm not sure why, but there's pressure when someone is standing close to you with a flashing object hoping to get that pose. It doesn't matter if it's for a professional or a friend. It can be an expensive Nikon camera or it can be a phone, and I still won't breathe during a picture because if I move even an inch, the moment seems ruined ... but is it? Think back to a time when you were sitting with your best friend alone in the living room and all you wanted to do was take a selfie for Snapchat. You probably took about 50 photos in that one sitting, and none of them turned out right for the both of you, but you caught this great moment of her laughing with her brightest smile as you stared at her with a straight face because she's your best friend who's ridiculously difficult to work with, and for that you will always love her. Those are the moments when we are at our best, the moments that are fleeting.

Like this time I tried to pick an apple at the orchard, and my roommate wanted to photobomb my deep contemplation of apples. Trust me, the picture looks better this way.

Pictures can show you the bad, but your memories hold onto the good

You once loved a boy with everything you had in you. Now, you have to shout the lyrics to songs to drown out the anger and loneliness you feel in his absence. You're not angry with him, you're angry with yourself for not seeing what was really going on. As you scroll through your phone, before deleting pictures of him, you stop on each one. His cute, shy guy smile used to melt your heart, but seeing his face on your phone breaks you down until there's nothing left of you. Maybe it wasn't a guy, maybe you lost your best friend over some stupid fight. She said some things, you said some things, and now she's nothing but a collage of pixels on the phone screen. The picture touches you for a millisecond, tickling you with fondness, but then you remember why you're so lonely in the first place. Put the phone down. Quit scrolling through their Facebook photos trying to force yourself back into their lives. Close your eyes, breathe and think of them. Your mind is connected to your soul. When the soul aches, the mind will push bad memories out and replay better ones as a coping mechanism to heal you. Let your imagination do its job. Let it play you a time-lapse video of the joyful hours spent loving someone and being loved by someone because it will help you feel whole again.

There's not going to be a photo here, you're using your memory. Remember?

Buy pictures compiled by photographers in an artistic collection, not pictures you could take yourself

For my senior year, I wanted the perfect pictures with my cap and gown on to accentuate the places on campus that meant the world to me. I thought about hiring a professional or asking a friend with a great camera to help me out. Money was the biggest issue I had with asking anyone to take pictures for me because professionals obviously charge for the time and final products, so if I were to ask a friend to do the same thing, then they should get some sort of compensation too. Then a friend and I decided we didn't need a professional or even a high tech camera. We would be our own photographers. So we set out at 8 a.m. on a Thursday morning and had a photo shoot.

We spent four hours driving around campus, laughing and clicking a silver button on her phone, all to capture so called candid memories. You don't get four hours of fun with a professional, not without paying for it. The end product was great if you ask me, but the best memories we made happened off camera regardless of our valiant efforts. There was more fun in the experience than the pictures can show you.

Seriously though, would a professional let you embrace your inner fountain goddess like this? He wouldn't dare let you undermine his job in such a way.

Stop trying to capture every moment and just be in the moment

Time flies by so quickly, and sometimes all we have is a snapshot to remind us of what was. Those still frames have no life to them the way the moment itself does. Bless those with photographic memories. If there's ever one piece of advice to live by, it's to live in the moment. Pictures are not going to help you remember the moments that truly matter. They'll only briefly refresh your memory. You'll remember the time your best friend was once a stranger that walked through the front door of the bookshop and said "You're the nicest person I've met in your class," when she didn't even know your name because that was when you realized how fast strangers become friends. It's impossible to forget how excited your sister was when she first stayed the night with you on campus after you'd been gone for months because she couldn't stop talking even at 3 a.m. A picture won't be able to refresh your memory on how warm the hug from your coach was on your graduation day since it dawned on you two that you were no longer going to see each other every day on the field. Those are memories that will stay with you forever, and although pictures are beautiful they can never recreate the glorified feeling of tangible memories.

So live in the moment and take everything in for all it's worth. Remember the colors of the sunset when you see it for the first time after two weeks of rainy days. Remember the itchy feeling of the grass you walked through trying to be a professional photographer with a phone and a portable charger. Remember the laugh of your best friend as she giggled behind your back because she a vibrant character, you'll always love her.

It's those little moments that count.