Who do I blame for the jumbled mess of snapshots that now cover my kitchen table? I took them out of my souvenir boxes (see previous blog entry The Boxes) several days ago, and there they still are, just waiting for me to risk spilling something on before I actually get up the energy to do something about them. I suppose it's my fault. It's also my fault that these are only a small portion of the hundreds of photos that are stashed in other boxes in various places all around the house.
Do something about them, Peggy...but what? I used to be diligent about keeping albums. I also used to be careful about writing dates and places on the back of photos. Those days have come and gone, unfortunately. I am now forced to consider what to do with just this latest batch of newfound photos.
First of all, I am appalled at the horrible quality of color photos in earlier days. Camera technology sure has changed since the 60s and 70s! I'm no pro at photography and never had what anyone could consider a quality camera. And guess what? You get what you pay for! The cruddy little snapshots from those old point-and-shoot cameras lack composition (from my lack of experience). The colors are bland and faded into various hues of yellow (from earlier failures of technology). The definition is somewhat blurry. Some dark. Others over-exposed. Even worse, every stinkin' picture is hard-curled, not so much from being in a box, but because of the nature of the paper they were printed on. Many of them, I couldn't put in an album if I wanted to because, in order to make them flat again, they would be damaged.
Okay...so this morning, I started sorting the pictures.
*There are uninteresting pictures of landscapes of famous places. No people in them.
*There are rare pictures of my family, made more fascinating because of the things in the background--remnants of my childhood.
*There are pictures of people whose names I had long forgotten and struggled to remember, with their names carefully printed on the back. (Whew!)
*There are pictures of events that actually have no meaning to me now. (A canoeing trip in Michigan. A vacation trip to Washington, DC. A visit from former students from Heyworth, IL, to my apartment in Matteson, IL, after I left Heyworth. (I don't even remember the girls' names now.)
*There is my precious Ann--my Irish Setter--and her little buddy Fritz (my parents' dog, a long-haired dachshund) at the family farm. (Funny thing about those two: Ann was probably four-times larger than Fritz, but he was the boss. They played endlessly, with Ann always showing submission. Fritz was the smartest dog I've ever met, and Ann was the sweetest, most obedient. They were quite a team. I loved taking her to the farm because she had such a good time there. She is buried in the pasture. They both went over the Rainbow Bridge a very long time ago.)
*There are a couple dozen pictures of my first wedding. Just a couple of my second.
One final note: I would trade all of the landscape pictures in the world for just a few more of my parents and my grandparents...and even my brother. Those people are all gone forever. I do so wish I had more photos of them.
I'm sorting pictures. What to pitch? What to save? Sort by year? Event? And what if I'm not sure of the date...or even the event? I will soon be overwhelmed by the magnitude of this little project. If I do this with this one batch of loose photos, must I also do it with all of the rest in the other boxes in the house? I'm not sure I have that many years left!!!
I know I'm not the only one dealing with this. So many families determine what to do with the photos when they have time. Then days turn into weeks, and weeks into months....and the rest is history.
Back to my project. There are only so many hours in a day. Wish me luck!
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