A father-daughter bond, one photo at a time

A long time ago in New York City, Steve Addis stood on a corner holding his 1-year-old daughter in his arms; his wife snapped a photo. The image has inspired an annual father-daughter ritual, where Addis and his daughter pose for the same picture, on the same corner, each year. Addis shares 15 treasured photographs from the series, and explores why this small, repeated ritual means so much.

Photography has been my passion

ever since I was old enough to pick up a camera,

but today I want to share with you

the 15 most treasured photos of mine,

and I didn't take any of them.

There were no art directors, no stylists,

no chance for reshoots, not even any regard for lighting.

In fact, most of them were taken by random tourists.

My story begins

when I was in New York City for a speaking engagement,

and my wife took this picture of me holding my daughter

on her first birthday. We're on the corner of 57th and 5th.

We happened to be back in New York exactly a year later,

so we decided to take the same picture.

Well you can see where this is going.

Approaching my daughter's third birthday,

my wife said, "Hey, why don't you take Sabina back to New York

and make it a father-daughter trip, and continue the ritual?"

This is when we started asking passing tourists to take the picture.

You know, it's remarkable how universal

the gesture is of handing your camera to a total stranger.

No one's ever refused, and luckily no one's ever run off with our camera.

Back then, we had no idea how much this trip would change our lives.

It's really become sacred to us.

This one was taken just weeks after 9/11,

and I found myself trying to explain what had happened that day

in ways a five-year-old could understand.

So these photos are far more than proxies

for a single moment, or even a specific trip.

They're also ways for us to freeze time

for one week in October

and reflect on our times

and how we change from year to year,

and not just physically, but in every way.

Because while we take the same photo,

our perspectives change,

and she reaches new milestones,

and I get to see life through her eyes,

and how she interacts with and sees everything.

This very focused time we get to spend together

is something we cherish and anticipate the entire year.

Recently, on one trip, we were walking,

and she stops dead in her tracks,

and she points to a red awning of the doll store

that she loved when she was little

on our earlier trips.

And she describes to me the feeling she felt

as a five-year-old standing in that exact spot.

She said she remembers her heart bursting out of her chest

when she saw that place for the very first time

nine years earlier.

And now what she's looking at in New York

are colleges,

because she's determined to go to school in New York.

And it hit me: One of the most important things

we all make are memories.

So I want to share the idea of taking an active role

in consciously creating memories.

I don't know about you, but aside from these 15 shots,

I'm not in many of the family photos.

I'm always the one taking the picture.

So I want to encourage everyone today

to get in the shot,

and don't hesitate to go up to someone and ask,

"Will you take our picture?"

Thank you. (Applause)