The human memory is a fickle and weak device. It just doesn’t cut the mustard when it comes to archiving our life’s experiences. For instance, I can barely remember what I did yesterday, let alone a month ago. As to last year, it’s a bit of a blur to be honest. A decade ago? Could have been anything. How about when I was six? That’s almost a complete mystery. Most people have the same problem.

Our memories slip through our hands like grains of sand, and we don’t really notice it’s happening until we try to recall something from our past.

Photographs are great reminders and memory triggers. And the more documentary they are in nature, the purer the memory. And even if you don’t remember everything about what’s in the picture, a documentary photograph will be a much better record of the event or an emotion than a posed picture ever can be.

When it comes to your wedding, nothing will better capture your life on the day than documentary pictures. Especially as the day passes so quickly. In fact, you’ll wonder how it is that you’re on the dancefloor having your first dance as a couple when it seems that only five minutes ago you were getting into your wedding frock ready for the church (the girls anyway). Time really does pass that quickly on your wedding day.

Time passes quickly in general, and having photographs of real moments helps you hang on to the good times and to the people who mean most to you.

Last Thursday, I took a photograph of a dying woman being cuddled by her six-year-old daughter. In the picture, they are both smiling, as is her husband who is also in the shot. It is a beautiful picture and it is one of the most important that I will ever take. Yesterday, the lady in the picture, my sister, died.

The picture is the last one of my sister, brother-in-law and niece together as a family, and it shows the love between them and a moment of genuine happiness, despite the very sad circumstances. In years to come, it will serve as the trigger for both fond and sad memories for many people, myself included. It will also, I hope, show a little girl later in life, when her childhood memories are scant and faint, how much her mummy loved her.