Why do we photograph?

This week I’ve been thinking about photography and the reasons people take photographs. In this digital age, we can all surf the internet and find photographs of virtually anything in a matter of seconds. According to a Popular Photography article (http://www.popphoto.com/news/2013/05/how-many-photos-are-uploaded-to-internet-every-minute) photo uploads to Facebook alone in 2013 were more than 200,000 per minute. Uploads to Instagram were nearly 28,000 per minute.
So, why do people photograph? Why do we need billions upon billions of images at our disposal?
I can’t answer that question for everyone, although I can certainly guess. But for me, the reason is that I love to document, and honestly, photos are one of the best ways to document things. I also love the technical aspects of photography – in the old days, I could go into the darkroom and create something with light and light-sensitive films and papers. Today, I can use my computer to create and manipulate digital images. I love to create things.
Why do you photograph? I’d love to hear your stories and your reasons for doing what you do.