I have a number of enduring memories of going to my Grandma’s (we called her Nonnie). She was always up before us, and when we stumbled sleepy eyed out to the kitchen there was a scalding hot tub of water with a rough cloth used to washed our faces and wake us up, followed by tea with milk and sugar. The morning usually wrapped up with pancakes. Berry picking in the summer, hiking and swimming off Madrona Point are all things I remember fondly. Nonnie also introduced us at a relatively young age to the pleasure of a wee glass of Sherry, a tradition that we continue to enjoy to this day.
One of my most treasured memories is looking through Nonnie’s eclectic mix of photo albums, drinking in the stories of the people and places and learning something of our family history and values in the process. If I close my eyes I can still recall the smell and texture of the albums, the progression from the old sepia toned formal family images through the early advent of color to the flat, red-eye built in flash pictures of the 80’s and 90’s before smart phones became ubiquitous. I must have looked through each album hundreds of times over the years. Every visit was a refresher on her life, which continues to have a deep impact on my own.
I believe those albums are one of the driving forces behind my choice to do what I do today. Images form an important record of our individual and shared histories. They help us tell our stories. What’s recorded is remembered. The problem we face today isn’t a lack of recording – it’s curatorial in nature. Over a trillion pictures will be taken this year alone[1]. A TRILLION. More pictures are taken every two minutes than existed worldwide 150 years ago[2]. The challenge is, once taken, these images are swiped left or buried in a folder deep in the cloud, and the opportunity to develop a deeper shared connection is gone.
If our stories matter, then it’s important that we take the time to curate our abundance of images down to the ones that really tell the story of who we are. This is why printing our best images is such a worthwhile endeavour. A high-quality printed image (more on print quality in an upcoming post), whether found in the form of an album, a folio box of 8x10’s, as a canvas or some other form of wall art, encourages us to linger and hear the story. It engages our senses and invites us into community. By taking the time to sift through the subtle nuances of facial expression and mood and choose this image to print we are making an important statement about ourselves. This image, of all the images we could have chosen, says something about us we want to remember and share. This image serves as part of our legacy. This image connects our past, present and future. This image matters and we don’t want to forget this memory.
The next time you get photos done make sure you take the time to stop and think about how they are going to contribute to your legacy.
Have a great day.
Cheers
Tris
[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/12-trillion-photos-to-be-taken-in-2017-thanks-to-smartphones-chart-2017-8
[2] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/how-many-photographs-of-you-are-out-there-in-the-world/413389/
