- Lawayne Dacosta is a 36-year-old mom to eight-year-old Londyn White, living in Atlanta.
- The mom and daughter recently scrolled through baby photos and realized they all had filters.
- While Lawayne regrets that she didn’t take more unfiltered pictures.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lawayne Dacosta. It has been edited for length and clarity.
My 8-year-old daughter, Londyn, recently had a school project for which she needed a baby photo. They were going to play a guess-that-baby game in class.
We sat down to flick through photos on my phone from when she was a baby and toddler, and there were so many photos that had been filtered on Snapchat — more than the number of unfiltered photos I had of her.
She thought they were funny
The app had been around for a few years, and everyone loved taking funny pictures with it. The flower headband was very in at the time. But I had never used the app much before Londyn was born.
I saved all the photos we had taken, and as we scrolled through them, Londyn particularly loved the one with a “for sale” sign.
“You were trying to sell me?” she asked, joking.
She also thought the one of her with a mustache was hilarious.
Courtesy of Lawayne Dacosta
There wasn’t any part of her that disliked all the filtered photos. She is quite familiar with filters now. It’s part of her culture — the funny filters, cutesy ones, colored and monster ones. She and all her friends like to use them for fun.
The one thing she did ask was why there were so many baby pictures.
I used the filters to keep her entertained
During those baby days, we had endless time together. Playing around with the filters gave me something to do with her on what could sometimes be long days. Many photos were clearly taken on the same day, in the same clothes, having fun with all the different filters.
As she got older, I used interactive filters — like she would stick her tongue out, then you’d get a rainbow. It was like a game for us to play together.
The filters were also a way to hide myself and protect her. When I first had her, I wanted people to see her but I didn’t want to send her picture out to everyone. Instead, I sent people photos of her with a cute little filter on it.
I rarely did my hair or makeup when she was just born, so the filtered photos gave me a chance to be in photos but cover up a bit. I could mask what I had going on.
I’ve mainly worked from home while Londyn has been little. She never went to day care, so I entertained her and found fun things to do together. We became so close.
We create content together now that she’s older
As my daughter grew older, we continued using technology and apps to have fun and be creative together. We’re digital creators together on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube now. I learn so much from her, and she learns so much from me as we are creative together. She knows what she wants to make and leads the way. These are moments of her life I love getting to be part of.
Courtesy of Lawayne Dacosta
I don’t regret taking filtered photos — I had a lot of fun with them and so did my daughter as she got older. It laid a foundation for the fun we’d continue to have with each other.
But I have to admit, I do wish I had taken pictures without filters. Sometimes, I go back through photos and think how cute she looked at a certain stage, but I realize I don’t have any photos of her in that stage without filters. It’s only a tiny bit of regret.
