photo memories

photo memories - I take way too many photos and have been uploading them to my flickr page. since I've been travelling over the last few years, I've been trying to upload the photos to the net so I'll have an online backup and be able to access them when I get a bit homesick. they also help me remember things. some might say this is taking the lazy way out and I should train my memory better to remember things. but the photos act as little triggers, or index pointers into the rhizhomes in my brain connected to remembering. I can remember some things from my early childhood, from probably around age 4. other people can remember earlier - I've always wondered how they do this. there's a couple of photos of me back then and I can remember the photo being taken and a few minutes around this time. but I'm not sure if this is just because there is a photo to trigger the recollection - I suspect it is. when I was growing up, Mum took photos but not as many as are taken these days. it was more expensive to have the pictures developed and you couldn't afford (well we couldn't!) to waste too many shots so the pictures were taken with more care (than I tend to use when happy snapping). I wonder if kids these days, who have thousands of photos taken of them at all stages of their life, will remember their earlier life better because of the photos and videos? perhaps they won't even notice or care.