The Photographer, in English

Many people, after a trip, always come home with photographs
each person's own memories — since photos hold memories,
it's probably because they're precious
I'm the same.
So I always leave photographs behind.

But unfortunately, I
don't take photos to preserve the trip —
I think I go on trips in order to take photos.
Rather than savoring every single moment,
I try to hoard those fragments of time called memory,
hungrily, as if starving, leaving them behind as evidence.

A life recorded just to remember myself,
and all that remains is a single photograph
or a handful of words
in some diary no one will ever read —
into it I throw my time
even as I lose myself, day by day, within that time.

But still, I can't stop.
They say my photographs won't put food on the table,
yet I have to leave traces behind.
Because it feels like that's the only way to fill myself up..
And in that way, I suppose, I am pitiful