Moving Beyond
The Internet

Moments in life happen so fast that it seems like nothing is taking place at all. Reality is unexceptional at the time, as we move on quickly each day of our life. 

“Life is lived looking 
toward the future. 
Life is understood by 
looking at the past.” 

It’s amazing how much photographs from the past bring us right back to small moments of living that we’ve had with other people or alone. Viewing photographs we can immediately feel the emotion of those moments as though we were there again. 

I think as we get older this becomes a powerful way to understand the uniqueness and beauty of what our lives were and what we leave behind that is valuable for our family or others to understand. 

Having been a professional photographer for about half of my life, early on I developed a habit of taking a camera everywhere life took me. Like many people, I ended up with a vast catalogue of my life in pictures - fifty thousand prints, slides, and negative photos, and about a quarter million digital photos. Hundreds of old family photos and documents, too. 

My son had something interesting to say when I mentioned the project of capturing all of this...

“Photos help us 
remember 
who we are.” 

 
It is just that simple. Today the digital world has each of us taking lots of photographs with our phones without taking the time to really understand the meaning of the moments in our own lives. The Internet creates a viewing experience that is too fast, too unedited and way too temporary. I think there is a way to change this and my path with Archive Real Life is to listen to people who want to capture an autobiographical printed version of their life and create a permanent in-depth record, moment by moment, for future generations to enjoy.
 
 Christopher Caffee
 Founder - Archive Real Life 



Photo - Christopher Caffee / Outward Bound / Salida, Colorado 1973