Some families take pictures all the time. Even in the age of real film, they had albums devoted to specific occasions and closets full of super 8 films. They celebrated half birthdays and quarter birthdays. They celebrated tooth loss and new teeth emerging. They celebrated nothing days.
That would not be my family. I don’t know if it was no interest or no money or no skill but there is a dearth of photos until I’m around 20. I had to work hard to find photos of my grandparents. Two died before I was born, one shortly thereafter and the last remaining one (paternal grandfather) died when I was around six. I have very little memory of him but at least he and my grandmother had a professional portrait taken to send back to the “old country.” By the way, our family did not have copy of that photo. Nobody shared copies of prints back then. I got it from an ancestry researcher living in Austria who came upon it in an attic he was cleaning out. What are the chances of finding me, an ocean away?
My maternal grandfather died when my mom was nine. No family portraits there. No wedding picture or family portrait. Nada. Nothing. About two years ago a cousin who is also an ancestor researcher shared a picture of his grandmother’s (my mother’s oldest sister) wedding (which my mother did not have a copy of). There standing next to her was her dad, my grandfather in the flesh. I was overjoyed. Now I have one picture of him and not surprisingly he looks exactly how I remember his oldest son (my uncle).
After all this rambling I’ll get to the point. My brother gave me the only copy of a photo taken when my mother took a trip to Hawaii. (We didn’t even take photos on vacation!) My mother had a hardy laugh. Her whole face crinkled up. If she laughed, you had to laugh. I had no real picture of that face until now. The very few pictures I have of my mom do not show her mid-laugh. This was a great gift. For a few moments it felt like she was in the same room.
One day I will create a family album with the few shots I have. It’s on my ta-do list but don’t hold your breath. First I have to learn how to do that in an on-line version so friends and family can access. Maybe after I finish painting walls here.
Oh wonders finding those pictures! Nothing makes the people more “real” than a snapshot of a moment. Love your mom’s smile. (Why is it moms only look like mom when the camera catches them unaware?)
All the pictures are safely boxed here, but making memory/scrap books was never my thing…maybe someday, I keep saying. Mom did a bunch of family history, so I’m lucky to have a start. We had old movies – which I moved to CD’s and shared with family’s but now that technology is old and needs to be updated. Sigh. I don’t even have the excuse of walls to paint…yet.
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A very cool find for you indeed. And I’m glad to also see that your genealogy work has really paid off. Congrats on the picture of the paternal grandfather — from Austria! That’s amazing. – Marty
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It was amazing. I belong to an ancestry group solely for the specific area in Austria that my grandparents emigrated from. That’s how one guy found me with a portrait of my dad’s family when he was a child. Score!
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What a great picture, and a what a great gift to get such a lovely picture of your Mom smiling and happy 🙂
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It is! I was able to crop out the guy to get a great smiling head shot of my mom too so double yay!
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I love the idea that you could take what you have and create an on-line portfolio, of sorts. It might lead to connections and photos that others might remember and share. I have found family photos on Ancestry.com uploaded by people I don’t even know, and it always feels so weird to me to someone else referring to my great-grandparents as either their grandparents, too, or somehow connected to their own loved one. I really do encourage you to get started on your projects when you can find the time to begin. Even if you start really small, it would be meaningful.
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The pictures of my grandparents I got from other researchers who share the same lines. It is such a great day when I get a message from someone about an ancestor. I have filled in many holes in my tree through that. Ah yes, the on-line photo album. First I have to find a good platform.
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I am lucky my parents took pictures all the time to document my childhood and teen years and since I had no siblings, there were lots of pictures. My mom gave me her Baby Brownie camera when I was old enough to handle it, so I began taking photos at a young age. My Kodak pocket camera was always with me so I have a lot of photos of family and friends through the years. Digitizing my photos was one of the best things I’ve done, even though many of them need to be tweaked as the photos are often four on a single album page and need to be enlarged to a decent size. That was the case with the photos I used yesterday … for a while my parents had their photos developed at a place where the photos were very small. It will be a project for retirement to tweak all the photos which took me all of Thanksgiving weekend 2017 to scan in.
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You are so ambitious about it! I wish I could get started.
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Partly I did it because I went in to look at pictures one time and all my albums were piled up in boxes in the bottom of a closet in the den. I went in to look at albums when I got a printer which had a scanner function – I decided to post some photos in an album on Facebook. All the albums were coming apart – the plastic overlay was not sticking and the binding on the pages just fell off. I was upset – I should have contacted Hallmark – they were all Hallmark albums. My mom’s family albums of her parents/grandparents were in good shape as she had used photo corners, so easy to scan. So I bought an Epson Flatbed Scanner and did it before the photos were damaged. If I had it to do over, I would get one of those handheld scanners (Rapid Photo at The Sharper Image) because the albums were big and would not fit on the platen … the handheld scanner would have been much better. It will be another project for retirement to fix them all up – at least I can look at the pics now – it was a hassle to move things (small house). I made a flash drive and put it in the safety deposit box and have all my photos organized by albums on Shutterfly and they have a “share site” if you decide to do that … you mentioned sharing pictures.
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I should look into doing that.
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Yes, do it – I’ll send you the link to the Sharper Image in a separate comment in case it goes to SPAM. I looked to see if they still made it. I like Shutterfly – free to store as much as you want and they never delete anything.
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Here’s the gizmo Kate – a little pricey but don’t do what I did. The Epson flat bed scanner was great and did a great job … if all your pics are loose or can be pulled from photo corners, fine, otherwise this would be a better option:
https://www.sharperimage.com/view/product/Rapid+Photo+Album+Scanner/205799?Keyword=&adpos=&cm_mmc=CPC-_-Google-_-Shopping+Campaigns+High+Priority-_-Rapid+Photo+Album+Scanner&creative=379893827683&creative=379893827683&device=c&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6-SDBhCMARIsAGbI7UgDHqhwBT8_jSDzfRC7dA1dc6ugWuKgX5sGyGMYyuwcq6BUFmlfpfAaAt2FEALw_wcB&matchtype=&mkwid=smQfnA1m%7Cpkw%7C%7Cpcrid%7C379893827683%7Cpmt%7C%7Cpdv%7Cc%7Cslid%7C%7Cproductid%7C205799-01%7Cpgrid%3D22336186463&network=g&p=plist2470005&ptaid=pla-542156123974&utm_campaign=Shopping+Campaigns+High+Priority&utm_medium=CPC&utm_source=Google
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Makes it look easy!
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I thought so too because no wrangling of the album to fit it on the platen and in some cases, it just wouldn’t fit, so I had to leave some photos out.
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I have few photos from my childhood so I more than make up for it now so my niece wouldn’t have that problem. I am always the official photographer at gatherings- plus I can avoid being in photos by being on the other side of the lens. 🙂
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That may have been part of the problem. Many people in my family don’t like their picture taken so they avoid it. Good that you are picking up the slack! Down the road people realize it doesn’t matter how good or not good you look. People who love you want to have something to remember.
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Your relatives are going to love your on-line family album.
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Only if I actually do it!
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Hi, I popped over to visit from Ally’s place. We didn’t have a lot of photos either but I do at least have one or two of each of my grandparents and a couple when my parents were growing up. Strangely there are lots of other photos of people I don’t know. I need to go through and toss one of these days too. I hope you will find the time and patience to put together that album.
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I may do it on-line so all the relatives have access. I need to find a platform for it so that’s where I’m stuck at the moment.
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If I had my arm around that nice looking guy, I’d sure be smiling too. Great shot, and if you take it to a photo place, they could even crop him out, and you’d have a great photo of just your Mom or maybe someone you knows has Photoshop and they could do it too. I had all the albums. When we moved last time, I took the photos out and put them in photo boxes. I chuckle some times because I don’t think the younger generations have much interest regardless of what format old photos are in, but I guess a box is easier to dispose of. Definitely finish the painting first. 🙂
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I have photoshop and will crop her so I have a great picture of her alone. I have one album from my childhood with those little pasted corners. Most of the corners are unpasted so when you open the book, everything falls out. All the rest are in photo boxes. Much easier.
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Yes, sadly i have few pictures of my dad as a boy. We have some of my mom and dad early in their marriage but none as kids. There are a few different easy to use online ways to make an album. Shutterfly is one and also creative memories – I’m a consultant if you ever need help. I still prefer the actual paper, scissors and glue way of making albums. Digitally made ones don’t hold the appeal for me.
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I have a school picture of my mom and a family portrait of my dad when he was about 10. The next pictures of them were when they were young adults. No childhood shots. I don’t think either family had camera.
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Hi Kate. I am working on albums in a conventional format (to me that is letter size stock in a loose leaf binder) because it allows for total creative freedom. Noting the distinct value in a digital copy, I simply scan the completed pages. The end result is that I can send them to anybody who is interested, and I also have a traditional album (my preference for browsing anyway) which can be modified as more pics etc. become available. Just a thought! 🙂
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I’m not so good (or faithful) to putting together paper albums. Since I haven’t started the digital version either, maybe I’m not so good at that either! 🙂
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Well it’s really not complicated. You just go to your nearest craft store and buy a few packets of photo corners. Then you proceed to your nearest stationary store and buy a packet of a heavy gauge paper; clear plastic pockets to put them in, and a nice binder. Then you take it all home and dump it somewhere conspicuous. After looking at it for a day or two or three or four, you will start feeling guilty … and guilt is a great motivator eh! 🙂
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After a few days I’d move all the supplies to a box and put it in the basement until I get around to it. 🙂 I’m too old for guilt.
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I tried to paste a pic of a round tuit here. so you had one … but no success!
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Dang! I was going to do that too then I didn’t know if you would know what it was!
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Oh yeh! I used to have loads of things to do when I get a round tuit, and then I got one and have never looked back! 🙂
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What a fantastic gift! And what a fantastic photo. I’d be smiling too with that photo companion. What a hunk!
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I wonder what he looks like now!
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Being that handsome to start out with, no doubt he still probably looks pretty darn good.
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I’m glad you got the picture of your mother, Kate…what a special gift. I’ve always loved looking at photographs whether I know the people or not.
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Especially the ones that capture history!
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My Dad was a picture taker and had a darkroom. We took photos. After my Mom died I was surprised at how little photos there were. And then when my Aunt died I was sure all those photos would be with her but they weren’t. The picture of your Mom is truly a gift. I have some of my favorite photos of my Mom framed and out but there were very few pictures of my Dad. I think you will get a kick out of creating a family album and it will be dear to you.
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I’m surprised you don’t have a lot. I took a photography at the local college. We had to do darkroom work and our own developing. I toyed with creating a darkroom but in the end decided not to. Most of the photos I took for the class were of the “artsy” variety rather than people so I didn’t get a lot of family shots from it.
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I find it saddening now since no one hardly uses prints anymore. It’s all on a screen. Remember the fun times of sitting around with albums or old boxes that would be dragged out and gone through?
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Well, no because our family didn’t take many photos. I have one scrapbook from my entire childhood and all the pages weren’t filled. I do have my prom shots though.
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Love the picture. Your mother’s smile is so sweet and happy with her arm around the hunk. Wonder what he looks like now?
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Me too. Sometimes men age better and sometimes they don’t. I wonder if he found a career (other than being eye candy).
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Picture taking….either you like it or you don’t. My mother never thought to take photos, but luckily my dad was the photographer and videographer of our family. I inherited his picture taking gene, and now with everything digital I probably take waaaaaaaaaaay too many pictures. One of my ongoing projects is to put them in some kind of order, and getting all of the family albums I inherited in a digital format as well, for easy sharing. I pity my family having to sort through them all at some point…hehehe!
Deb
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I have a lot of shots of my cats. They seem to be the subject of most of photographic endeavors and no one (except me) really wants to see them. I keep them handy in case someone gets overly showy with their grandchild photos! 🙂
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Good plan!!!
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Nice looking guy! Wonder if your Mum warmed her hands up first????
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It was Hawaii. I doubt they were cold!
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🙂 true!
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I love the photo of your mum laughing. I am sure that is how she would want to be remembered. I had a lot of family photos but nobody thought to write on the back who they were so I could not identify them.
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The few I have are not identified nor are they dated. My brother is older than I am and was better at dating and identifying but it was still hard. Even this one. We could sort of date because of the Hawaii trip which occurred in the late 1970s but we don’t remember exactly what year.
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My family wasn’t much for photos, either. I have my parents’ wedding photo with their parents, but my maternal grandfather was already deceased. I have one photo of me as a baby. Maybe 2 toddler photos with my siblings. My dad forgot the camera for my high school graduation, shocker. There are so few photos of most of us kids that when we came home from college one year, my full siblings and I had a professional photo taken, just of us. About ten years after that, though, we started having weddings and suddenly there are plenty of photos.
Now that everyone has cellphone cameras, it’s an avalanche of photos of nieces and nephews.
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We have some reunion photos from the late 1990s and early 2000s but someone is always missing. My step son took one at the reunion about 3 years ago and he spent significant time posing us in the best light and it’s the best picture I have of the whole gang but my nephew was missing that day. Maybe if we have a reunion this year we’ll try it again. I want to get a professional shot taken of my husband and me but it always seems to slip by the wayside.
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Glad that you are garnering a small collection of family shots. Have fun curating them.
I have the opposite problem. My grandfathers and mom & dad were all avid photographers and my siblings and I all followed their lead so we have TONS of albums, CD’s of photos, DVD’s of home movies, etc. I could get lost in the past.
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I wish I had a tenth of what you have!
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I wish I had a 10th of what I have! 😆
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Same story here Nancy. I don’t know what to do with the photos, many of which are of who knows who! 🤷♀️
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I cleaned up the photos after my mom passes many years ago. Most of what she had were neighbors that I didn’t know. If I didn’t know them and my brother didn’t either, I tossed. There were more photos of my brothers when they were teenagers and young adults but not many from when they were children. Very few of my parents.
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I spent a fair amount of time before we moved to FL culling our photo albums from 60 to 20 ~ getting rid of photos of workmates & acquaintances whose names I could no longer recall. But I wish now I’d been even more ruthless!
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Good to know. I’ll keep that in mind when I finally sit down and get serious about the pics. Someday…
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60 to 20? OMG! I have one album for my entire childhood and it’s not filled.
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Of the 20, 2-3 are childhood/ parents/ pre-college, 1 is college (not just of me, but also siblings, parents, etc.), the rest are from age 22 – 50 (about 1 every year or so, with LOTS of photos of nieces and nephews, and friends kids, etc.).
Since I turned 50 and moved to Florida, I have only done one additional album because I realized that even with photos LESS is MORE!
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That is a great gift…..we were not a family of photo takers either. I do have a few photos but most of my photos I took after I was out on my own. I have a big cardboard box full……and I also have my Mom’s photo albums (mostly photos of her and her friends and places she’d traveled to) and an album with photos belonging to my Dad which had photos of him as a young soldier and a FEW of us. It’s obvious picture-taking wasn’t a priority back then. Not sure why but I didn’t inherit the “never use a camera” gene…..I love taking photos but often forget to bring along the camera! At least I try! I’m happy you have a smiling Mom photo – that surely is a keeper.
Hugs, Pam
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I am so jealous of families that have lots of photos to choose from. I have a few of my parents when they were young but very few of my dad. He died when he was 55 and I have maybe two from after I was born. He was very handsome and had an upbeat side to him. I wished I had more of both of them.
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I know……I didn’t really consider the value of family photos until I got to be a “certain age” and now I’m grateful to have the few I do have. Your Dad was so young when he passed.
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Yes he was. I was 10 at the time. I wish my parents had a portrait taken. I love looking at old pictures. I can see traits passed on. I was amazed at how much my mom’s brothers (all except one who looked more like her mom) favored her dad in looks. Looking at a picture of her dad, I said, “OMG! That’s Uncle Joe!” but the age wasn’t right. It had to be his dad.
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It’s interesting seeing family resemblances isn’t it. When I was younger I felt like I looked like my Dad and now that I’m older I think I look like my Mom! LOL I love old photos too…..little time capsules.
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I’m a mix of both parents while one brother favors my dad’s side and the other my mom’s side. Genetics are interesting. Same gene pool, different outcomes even from a personality standpoint.
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we love the sotry behind this photo… to imagine that this young man is in his 70’s now… wow! I hope you will find the time to create such a photo album… it is a great way to remember special moments…
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I love the concept of doing it. It’s just the work that I don’t like. Mostly because I’m not sure how. I need a 6 year old techie whiz living next door.
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