The Final Verdict - Cont'd

About ten days ago I posted about the disposition of my folks' photos. Today I completed that project! Rest assured that I contacted my siblings a couple of times to make sure that they knew well ahead that this was going to happen and gave them every opportunity to ask for a stay of execution. I have also set aside some things that may be of interest to the Historical Society (my mom was a member for decades) and boxed up some photos for others. At the end I kept the most photos because there were so many that I just couldn't destroy. Did you expect any less from the one who takes fifteen to twenty thousand photos a year?

The photos that were in albums had the subject and date written on the back for the most part. Once they were removed from the album, they simply had to be placed in the appropriate pile. Then, the project really slowed down when I got to these...

This tub was packed with photos in the envelopes they came in from the photo lab and in the folders that WalMart gave out with each roll of film developed at one time. Because these only had a general date written on the package, I had to write on each photo that was being saved which was extremely time-consuming. I kidded Mom about getting lazy with her photos the last twenty years or so...she just laughed!

After all those hours and all that deliberation and all that sorting, these will be destroyed.

This pile of photos weighs 33.4 pounds; weighing a few samples I determined that there are about 15 photos per ounce. Fifteen photos per ounce times 534.4 ounces would result in approximately 8,000 photos piled on my sofa. Remember, these are just the ones that I am not keeping or giving away. These are not digital photos: film was purchased, flash bulbs were purchased for indoor shots years ago; the film was sent out for developing; and albums were purchased for storage. There was considerable cost incurred and time spent taking, printing, and storing photos until just a few years ago.

Even though this looks like a lot of photos, and it is, please give considerable thought to your own photos. We all take so many now because it is so cheap and easy. But who is going to sit and scroll through the thousands taken each year? Are you? Will your kids? Have you thought about why you take photos? What do you hope they'll provide and to whom? How will any of you know who, what, where, when your photos were taken? Are your digital photo folders named in a meaningful and consistent manner? Do you copy just a few of the best, the most meaningful, the most special occasions to separate folders for convenient access? Are your files backed up regularly? yada, yada

You get the point, which is why I have chosen to share so much of this very personal project with you. Hopefully you will give some thought to making sure that your photos will provide the pleasant memories and family history for which you probably intend them.

Speaking of family history, wait until you see what I found while going through all these mementos.

Lovin' Life ~~ And Family History in Photos