My wife, Megan and I miss our dear Oma every day. Looking back at our photos of her, and listening to our audio and video recordings brings her back into our home space as if she’d never left.

"I feel the anticipation we all have about connecting in person this festive season is at an all-time high. If the past two years have gifted us anything it’s a deeper appreciation for one another’s physical presence hasn’t it?

It’s something we as a family learned to capture very liberally in our home, thanks largely to my filmmaking background. Every serendipitous moment was an opportunity to grab my iPhone and collect something, be it a photograph, an audio snippet or a on-the-fly video.

We feel very fortunate that we had the good habit to do this, as so many of our friends missed their opportunity to capture slivers or chapters of their loved ones’ lives, meaning they’re often missing someone’s voice, someone’s smile, someone’s presence.

And although we miss our dear Oma every day, looking back at the collection of photos of her, and listening to our audio and video recordings brings her back into our home space as if she’d never left us. That kind of presence is really something everyone should work hard to capture, because those moments define our legacy, our presence, our living history.

I read this line the other day, and I wanted to share it here and see how it lands with you too. “Each memory of you is so alive, that it never feels like you’re not here.” It’s equal parts sobering and gorgeous isn’t it? By grabbing your smartphone out of your pocket this festive season and documenting your nearest and dearest, you create memories that no illness can ever take away.

Here’s a photography tip I have for capturing meaningful moments yourself this festive season. Take photos on your phone of un-posed moments. Family enjoying a meal. A natter between relatives. Someone washing up. A moment of unhinged laughter, or even an expression of deep thought. Resist the urge to get people looking at your camera and instead, float through the scene as if you were invisible, capturing slices of scenes in stills that will instantly bring that moment back to you. Photographing in ‘live’ mode also means you’ll capture a short video snippet with audio when you long-press the image on playback."

Watch a video of our family Christmas

Author: Jason van Genderen