We are all photographers. With the advent of technology, each and every one of us is able to take a regular photo and make it look better with filters and camera settings. I’m talking at you, Instagram! However, meeting an actual photographer gave me a completely different perspective on photography. Photography is not only a pastime. It is a job, and most importantly, it is art.

Greg Bloom, whose major clients include Bath & Body Works, Ann Taylor Loft, and Hourglass, loves his craft. Bloom showed us his newest work, which was taking pictures of food before and after they mold. It was interesting and, uh, rather smelly. However, his main purpose was to show us how photography can help show the little details of how the food changed over the past few days. When Bloom put the before photo and after photo side-by-side, it made me think about time and how given just a couple of days, the food changed. Before, it was perfect and delicious; after a couple of days, it was disgusting and moldy.

Just the other day, I was talking to my mom about my brother and how I wanted to start prepping him for high school entrance exams (SHSAT, Hunter High School Exam, etc.) It was then that it hit me—I was thinking about what high school my brother should go to. Just the other day, my parents were telling me I was going to have a little brother and now all of a sudden, he is in middle school. I literally had an “I’m old” moment. But then, I realized that I while I was always concerned with how older my brother was becoming, I did not necessarily look at myself. With every year, I have also grown older and changed as well.

I am currently 18-years-old and am attending Baruch College. WHAT. Didn’t I start Pre-K like the day before? Wasn’t I riding my bike with my friends outside, where the only worry I had was going around the block by myself? Wasn’t I waiting for my parents to tell me a secret they were keeping from me—that I would become a big sister? Where did the time go?! Holy crap, I’m old. And right there and then in Bloom’s studio, when I saw the pictures of the food side by side, this was all going through my head.

This is probably going to sound weird, but food before and after it became mold made me think of me, how before I was small and tiny and constantly needed Mommy and Daddy but now, I’ve grown up. No, I am not comparing myself to moldy food lol. But the point is, we all want to grow up. We want to become older. But, given such short time, we could all change and not even realize it. Sometimes I find myself yearning to become younger again, where things were simpler. Where I did not have an over-abundance of schoolwork. Where I did not stress myself at work so that every single one of my students got 4’s on their state exams. Where I did not worry that my friends secretly hated me because they thought I was ditching them every time I cancelled plans even though I was just completely swamped with work. Yet despite wanting to be younger again, I realized that I will only be getting older (unless I’m Benjamin Button). I should embrace it. Even though the moldy food has met its untimely end (seriously, moldy food is disgusting) and will be eventually thrown out, that is not the case for me. Even though I am now considered an adult and I am currently on Chapter 18 of Lisa Puran’s Life, it is simply the beginning. It is a time for me to find out who I really am—what I like and dislike, who my friends are going to be, what my career will be. It’s a time for me to still remember my past, but to also look forward to my future.

P.S. I didn’t take a picture of the moldy food and since just putting a huge block of text is boring, I included a picture of me when I was wee little (I think when I was a year old and a my high school graduation photo). I know, I know. I’m adorable 😉