Make a Photo Memory Playlist: Choose Five Songs for Five Moments

Choose a song for each of five moments

To make a photo memory playlist, choose a theme such as one trip or one day, then pick five photos. For each scene, write the title and artist of a song it brings to mind and a line about why you chose it.

Distinguish songs you actually heard at the time from songs you chose later while looking at the photos. Ask permission before sharing someone else’s story in a photo.

Put the photos and songs in order

1. 1

   Choose one theme and select five photos that show its progression.

2. 2

   Write a song and artist for each photo, noting whether you heard it then or chose it later.

3. 3

   Move the songs around to decide what belongs at the beginning, middle and end.

4. 4

   Write one line explaining each choice and, if you like, create the playlist yourself in a music service.

A fictional travel playlist

The editorial team created this fictional travel example using real songs. For a photo outside the station, put “Sunrise” by Norah Jones first and write, “I connected this first song with waiting for the morning train.” This is not a claim that someone actually heard it on the trip.

For a view from the window, choose “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles; for a lane, choose “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac. The fictional reasons are “light coming through the window” and “a song that brings to mind walking slowly down the lane.”

For the evening table choose “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley & The Wailers, and for the return platform choose “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. The imagined reasons are “sitting together” and “a song for the end of the day.” We do not know whether they were played on an actual trip; replace them with songs and reasons meaningful to you.

Separate what you heard from later choices

It is fine if you did not play music on the trip. Write “chosen later from the photo” so it is not mistaken for a song you actually heard then. If you are unsure, leave the song blank and describe the scene first.

The song order does not have to follow the story’s chronology. Check titles and artists in the music service you use so you do not confuse songs with the same name.

Save photos and song notes in Pogaem

In a personal Pogaem calendar, you can save photos and short notes you write yourself, such as “1. Outside the station · song/artist · chosen as the opening scene.” Reorder the written list yourself while looking at the five photos.

This record does not play music or automatically create a playlist. Use a separate service to listen, and check the relevant terms and the consent of people in photos before sharing photos or music publicly.