I haven't tripped and looked at any of my old photos at the same time. I do think it can get heavy looking at old photos - straight - but for different reasons than I've heard here. I'm not in any way trying to bring back my youth, or any kind of spirit that existed then.
I had melancholy in my youth, lots of it. I still feel connected to those times. I still let my mind wonder about things I gather a lot of other people don't spend time on.
When I look at photos, it's a younger me, that's all. Still unsettled and in many ways uncompromising....but I understand much better now why I am the way I am and why earlier times were painful.
It's taken many years for me to realize the path I've taken could not have been avoided. What I see when I look at old photos now is a child who half suspects the world is brutal...but doesn't quite appreciate how..and doesn't yet know he will spend time finding out. There were many great times along the way, but the impressions that stick are these 'grown-up' thoughts about the nature of the world...what the point would be anyway of marrying, having kids and going into debt. ...and how none of that ever seemed to be a fit for me.
Yup, when I look at pictures now I'm amazed I took the time to smile amid all the brooding. I bet if I got high on a psych and looked at photos it would be a positive for me because the farther I get away from those earlier times the better I understand them.