Old family photos do that for me too — make me think of both the brevity of life and the beauty it is just to have lived. To see the arc of those who have gone before you should be a sobering thought, but I also find a kind of comfort in a humbleness of knowing I too am just like them as they once were like I am now.

(In fact, something similar was a common headstone epitaph that a relative of mine who died over 100 years ago has on his own headstone.)

I wrote a bit about it here: https://engineersneedart.com/blog/camera/camera.html