Pieces of Me || LOH #303

One time, during a talking stage, a guy asked me to tell him, in detail, about myself. And the first thing that came to my mind was to give him my phone so he could go through my camera roll. I like to be unconventional and describing myself using words of mouth on a random day out will kind of bore me.

My suggestion had him stunned that I was willing to let him do that. But honestly, I thought it was probably one of the best ways to get to know me. So I handed him my phone, and he started scrolling.

Part of the reason I let him to do it, asides not wanting to be bored to death was because I wanted to hear him talk. I wanted to know what I looked like from the perspective of another person. Sometimes we know ourselves so intimately that we don’t notice the little patterns that make us who we are. I just wanted to see myself through someone else’s eyes. And he was surprisingly observant.

The talking stage didn’t eventually turn into a relationship, but I absolutely loved that day. After going through my camera roll, he gave me these vivid descriptions of who he thought I was, and I was fascinated by how much he could gather about me from what I had casually chosen to photograph and keep. That was the first and last time I’ve ever handed someone my phone and allowed them to go through my entire camera roll.

But if someone did it today, and they were as observant as he was, I think they would still learn quite a lot about me.

They’d probably figure out very quickly that I’m a cat lover, a book lover and a lover of brilliant words. They’d notice that I’m quite confident in myself because, apparently, I take a lot of pictures of myself which most of them the world don’t get to see.

They’d also notice that I don’t go out particularly often. My camera roll isn’t filled with endless pictures from restaurants, parties and fancy locations. Instead, it’s filled with little things I find interesting. A flower growing somewhere I didn’t expect it. A beautiful building, an unusual-looking fruit, a pretty arrangement of colours. Something ordinary that looked extraordinary to me.

I think that’s one thing my camera roll would reveal about me. I like finding beauty in mundane things. They’d probably also notice that I’m quite conscious of health. There are pictures of herbs, things related to wellness and anything else that catches my attention when it comes to taking care of the body. And then there are the scents.

I love scents. Perfumes, beautifully packaged fragrances, anything that makes me want to stop and smell it. My camera roll would definitely expose me on that one. They’d also discover that I love my space. I notice interiors. I notice colours. I notice good palettes and the way different shades sit together. I notice fabrics even though I am absolutely not a tailor. I notice stylish clothes, interesting patterns and little details that most people might walk past without a second thought.

Basically, my camera roll would probably tell you that I’m someone who pays attention. I photograph things because something about them made me pause. And I guess that’s what makes a camera roll so interesting. Unlike Instagram, it isn’t necessarily a carefully curated representation of who I want people to think I am. It’s a collection of the things that naturally catch my eye when nobody is asking for a performance.

If someone scrolled through mine long enough, I think they’d discover that I am a woman who finds comfort in cats and books, beauty in colours and fabrics, fascination in words, pleasure in scents, and wonder in ordinary things. And perhaps that’s a pretty accurate life story after all.

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