Almost every morning, I spend a few minutes looking through the “On This Day” photo memories in my OneDrive account.
Most days, it’s simply a pleasant walk down memory lane. Family gatherings, photos of the dogs, pictures of herbs, snapshots from trips, and reminders of places I’ve been and things I’ve seen. Sometimes I smile, sometimes I laugh, and occasionally I wonder why I ever thought a particular photo was worth keeping.
But every once in a while, something special happens.
A photograph appears that I had completely forgotten existed.
That happened recently with a photograph I’ve titled Mile High Nights.
The image was captured years ago during a trip to Denver. At the time, I was carrying an older phone—one I no longer own—and while I remember taking plenty of photos during that trip, I had completely forgotten about this one. Had it not been preserved in cloud storage and resurfaced through OneDrive’s photo memories, I might never have seen it again.
When the image appeared, I stopped scrolling.
There it was: the glow of Empower Field, the lights of downtown Denver, and the energy of the city stretching between them. Looking at it now, I can appreciate details that I probably overlooked when I first captured it. The composition, the atmosphere, and the story hidden within the scene all seemed far more meaningful with the benefit of time.
As photographers, we often focus on our newest work. We’re excited about the images we captured yesterday or last weekend. We spend our energy planning the next shoot, the next trip, or the next portfolio project.
But sometimes the best discoveries are already sitting in our archives.
Our skills evolve. Our artistic vision changes. We learn to see photographs differently. An image that seemed ordinary five or ten years ago may suddenly reveal qualities we didn’t recognize at the time.
That’s one reason I encourage photographers never to neglect their photo archives.
Go back through old folders.
Revisit forgotten memory cards.
Browse your cloud storage memories.
You might find a hidden gem that deserves a second chance.
In my case, I found a photograph that had been quietly waiting in the background for years. With a little editing and a fresh perspective, it became one of my favorite cityscapes from Denver.
Not bad for a photo taken on a phone that no longer exists.
So if you haven’t looked through your old photographs recently, take a few minutes and do it. You never know what treasures may be waiting for you there.
Sometimes the best new photograph is actually an old one.
See the final version of the image in the Bright Lights gallery.