School photos become bittersweet mementos of time’s relentless procession, from childhood into adulthood, generation into generation. These days, we take phone-snaps by the dozen the minute anything mildly amusing or significant seems to be going on, and print scarcely any.
One who keeps photos of all the most momentous parts of their life will have a better time introspecting, by starting from an album consisting of their childhood, then proceeding to one of their senior year, then getting to their wedding album, and so on. This kind of connection to one’s past can’t be achieved in a better and easier way.