USING PHOTOS TO RE-EXPERIENCE THE BIG LITTLE THINGS.
The greatest value of personal photos is the way they preserve the precious moments of daily living. They capture events and experiences we once though worthy of documenting . Yet, like the memory stored somewhere in our brains, these recorded images usually disappear into a forgotten past.
Photos trigger memories and remembering is a form of re-living our lives.
Since our personal photos generally record happy moments they direct us to good times, pleasant moments. Of course there is a temptation to regret what’s gone – our youth and faded relationships — but ultimately, few of us can resist the pleasure of nostalgia as we re-experience what we did, the people we did it with and who we were.
When I look at old photos its like viewing a pictorial history of the big and little events that make up my past. Concentrating on an image teleports me back in time so I can actually re-experience some of the very best feelings I’ve ever known.
I’ve come to realize that these frozen moments are the precious objects stored in the museum of our lives, a museum we ought to appreciate more and visit more often.
We delude ourselves into thinking that replacing boxes of unsorted printed photos with easier to access and store digital files makes enjoyment of our memorialized memories more likely. I don’t think so. Freed from the cost and burden of developing and printing photos we literally take thousands of pictures stored in digital files — too many to review.
SUGGESTIONS: Three suggestions:
1) pick out a few (no more than 5 really favorite photos of each event for a special file of LIFE highlights
2) start a tradition of a private or family photo review as part of every special occasion – birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and
3) MAKE YOUR WALLS YOUR PHOTO ALUMS so you don’t have to find them — they will find you.