Everyone has a photo album. Most of us have dozens. The wedding album, his side before marriage,your side before marriage, the children, the school years, the travel ablums and our voyage into photo books.
We have our favourites. They become our cherished possessions. Pictures are captured in a moment to last a lifetime. Our loved ones are shown in happy times. One more picture before everyone goes!
Do you ever notice how the themes are so similar? Group family shots, blowing out the birthday candles, children ripping open their presents, travel photos of Buckingham Palace or the Great Pyramids and someone standing beside them. If we peeked into others' photo albums, we would see the similarities.
Photos can be used in family therapy. Just ask for 5 pictures from a recent event and the problems can be identified. Who is on the edge of the group? Who is not in the picture? Let me take your picture and in an instant your head, body moves toward the person, a hug happens simultaneously. Who says no and runs away?
One of my favourite photos occurred while visiting a cemetery on one of my genealogical jaunts. While taking a picture of my great-great grandfather's tombstone in Goodwood, Ontario, my daughter was behind it looking back at the tombstone. Unplanned. The camera seized a moment. What a wonderful family history moment! A great granddaughter at one with an ancestor!
We learn about the photographer through the photos. Lots, few, group shots, scenes, favourite items.
Pictures tell a story. The church above- a wedding about to happen, people arriving, a country setting, must be summer with the brown grass and green trees.
What are your favourite photos? Do you love pictures? Do they come out of the album and get framed on the wall?
And don't forget the most popular "album" for most people, the fridge door. Often, it holds the latest and most popular "people portraits". They might be shots of the kids or the grand-kids or the family or photos that came in the mail from distant friends or relatives. The turnover of photos may be slow for family shots or fast for a new member of the family. The number of photos may be limited only by the number of fridge magnets available. Eventually, they may end up in a nice album or a shoe box but, for a while, they are proudly displayed to every one who comes into the kitchen. Photo albums are priceless treasures for us and those who follow.
ReplyDeleteTjere are other modern places that have become albums- the cell phone, digital camera-put the memory card in the computer, the digital picture frame. And the wonderful scrapbooking craze- take a photo and make a magical page with highlights, stickers.
ReplyDeleteOpp a typo- there!
ReplyDelete