Advanced Essay #1: Say Cheese

Introduction: The goal of my essay was for me to write about what I remember and reflect on my family and capturing the perfect moment. I wrote about how I hated that my parents took a bunch of pictures and now I appreciate the pictures they took. The area that I am most proud of is my last paragraph because I sum up everything with my reflection about taking the perfect photo. The area that I need improvement on is the connecting more scenes to my essay.

I had never looked forward to trips when I was younger. That all changed when my annual family trip was planned, and this year it was Mexico. This happened because the stars aligned and Drexel’s summer break lined up with my summer break. The morning of the trip, my brain was scattered everywhere trying to make sure we had everything together for the adventure we had waiting for us. While I am packing the suitcase, my sister Ellen was packing all of the cameras and equipment -  Polaroid, a tripod, and a DSLR. Going on a vacation with my family, you have to make sure you bring enough Polaroid refills. We almost used a pack in one day! Ten films would not work for this family, it wouldn't even last a day.

By the time we finished packing, it was 6:30 in the morning and our flight with American Airlines was at 10 am. As time went by, my stress level had gone down and my excitement had risen up. I couldn't wait to start the journey that I knew that I would have. We finally got to the airport, through TSA, and onto the plane. As soon as I sat down, I fell asleep and woke up in beautiful Mexico.

On the second day of the trip, my mom didn’t really want to go into the beautiful clear water of the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, she took so many of the same pictures and videos non- stop until the very last day of the trip. Which at the time, I thought it was pointless because she was just taking a lot of the same pictures. Once my parents learned how to take pictures or videos on their own, they stopped us when they saw something breath taking or beautiful, just to take one picture. Soon enough, we had to limit their pictures to  just enjoy our trip without being stopped every second. I told my mom no more pictures for now and to enjoy our time here because we don't see this is Philly. I knew that my parent’s just wanted something to remember these moments. On the other hand, I like to live in the moment and take pictures with my memory instead.  

During our third to last day in Isla Mujeres, my dad and I decided that both of us would go to the Selvatica Adventure Park, while my sister and my mom went to an outdoor museum. It took two fine fours to get to the place of adventure. When we finally got there, the photographer took numerous pictures of us holding two colorful birds before we started on our activity. The instructors took us really high up in the jungle. It looked similar to a jungle gym for grown-ups. Once the instructors hooked me into a harness, my heart started to racing unusually fast. My dad and I both waited for our turn together. I was on the right and my dad was on the left. The instructors told us to lay on something, similar to a bed, so he could hook us up to the wires. I shed tears of fear just at the thought of falling from 100 feet down to the jungle in mid-air. I was not ready and I wanted to back out, but my dad said it was too late to back out. My biggest fear was doing the Superman zip line, which is where we were in our stomach and the table from under us would drop. Afterward, it felt like I was flying and turned out to be the best thing I did in the whole trip. Sadly, the photographers took some embarrassing pictures of us. The photographers were moving the cameras around to get the perfect shoots. They end up taking about 125 pictures of my dad and I - so that number did not compare to the amount that my mom and dad took.

The next day, as a whole family, we wanted to go see the outdoor art sculptures. Before we got there, we took many stops here and there. My parents couldn’t get enough of the perfect view and took fifteen pictures of my sister and I at each stop, and my sister doing the same for my parents. We also had to ask strangers to take pictures for us as a family. I feel uncomfortable having to pose for a really long time. We finally get there and my mom wants us to take more pictures with most of all the art sculptures. She mom kept moving her phone around, spamming the camera button on her smartphone. Meanwhile, I just wanted to look around and take pictures here and there of the beautiful art. My parents never understood how taking a lot of pictures and staying in one spot is not my thing.

“No more pictures! This is the last picture,” I exhaustedly said.

“Take a picture, this is going to be the last picture,” said my mom.

Throughout this whole trip, it was all about taking pictures and making new memories with my family. It felt like the pictures were going on a never-ending loop. With my family, we can never just take one photo. There will always be someone looking the opposite direction of the camera. At the end of the day, there is always one perfect picture with all of us looking. And even though I didn't like taking so many pictures, I just appreciated that I can go to these places with my family.