When I was in fourth grade, my friend had a book of haunted
stories. The picture on the front of the book was the outline of a faint ghost
floating through a forest. I was fascinated by this book and how terribly
fearful it made me feel. I was especially haunted by this photo on the cover. I
asked to bring it home one night but it haunted my sleep and I got rid of it
the very next day. But this is not a story about those kinds of haunting
photos.
This is a story about far more terrifying pictures and ones that
haunt me far more deeply. I am talking about the thousands of photos I have stored
on my computer. Almost the entirety of
my life since the digital age began. I
am overwhelmed by photos and I fear I will never catch up. I will never be able
to go through and print and catalogue all of the amazing photos of us, our
kids, our family and our friends.
I kept up for a while. I would go to the photo store for
marathon sessions of selecting, cropping and taking out red eye. It cost me
hundreds of dollars per time but I would have tackled almost a whole year of
photos. Currently, I think I am three years behind. THREE YEARS! Do you know
how many photos that is? You probably do
because I am sure you take ten photos of the same shot just like me. And then
how do you choose? They’re all so great.
It’s not like the old days (really, I’m saying that?). It was a one shot deal and you didn’t get to
see it until you got the roll of film developed. And each one was so special. And still is. And it didn’t matter if someone
had their eyes closed and someone else wasn’t looking. It just captured the moment as it was.
Everyone loves to sit down with a photo album; to turn its
pages and remember a time gone by.
Albums need to be created. Photos are not meant to sit on a computer
never to be looked at again. But our digital cameras and phones, while
inspiring us to take more photos than ever, have actually left us with a void
of actual pictures to look at.
Well, there is no time like the present. I need to go
through my photos and spend the hours upon hours it is going to require to
bring them to life in actual print. They’re worth it. The memory each photo
gives to us is worth it. I want my kids to have mini time capsules of their
lives just like I do of mine. Even if it only happens once in a while it really
is pure joy to sit on a couch curled up with your past and hug it one more time
before you place it back on the shelf.
