Piles and piles of pictures are strewn across the top of my desk. I stare at them, smiling when one holds a familiar face, and shrug my shoulders when I do not recognize the face or the place in another. Why did I decide to blend the "Self-Stories" challenge with a long overdue project of sorting out and dividing old family photos among my sisters and myself? Because it seemed like a logical connection at the time. But two days ago, a relationship changed, not for the good, not necessarily bad, and certainly not unexpected, but it is nonetheless a painful change that only time will remedy. So now, staring at a pile of pictures with faces, attached to people who meant something to someone at some time so the picture was stored and passed on to the next generation is a cause of frustration to me whereas in the past I would have enjoyed trying to figure out the reason for its existence. Who are these people? Where were they taken? What significance do they hold? Why didn't someone write this information on the back of the photo?! I will never know. The people who could answer those questions are gone. "But you have to start somewhere", I remind myself, "so you might as well sort! Let's see... I know this one is Mom; and this one is Dad...
I can so relate to this shot, which btw is a fantastic homage to the experience of sorting photos, knowing they are important, but not really knowing who or why. And it's getting all the more complicated with old film reels, vhs tapes, etc. You've framed this poignantly. Best wishes on getting through what seems to be a tough period.
I cannot fathom the idea of having to sort though such a pile of photographs! I know that I didn't write on the back of my photos and often have no idea what is in the picture or where the picture was taken. Those with people in can be just as confusing. I wish you luck getting yours all sorted and passed on.
How sad that shots which were taken (presumably) to preserve memories shoul cause confusion later. I have beeb taking photographs for 70 years and can recognize and relste to every one of them because I see a photograph as reinforcing the words that come to mind while I am pressing the button, and my reason for taking the shot. I strongly believe that caption writing, whether scrawled briefly on the back of the print or physically written as an accompanying story, or simply committed to memory is an important as the image itself and turns a random snapshot into a permanent memory.
PS: Please excuse the dreadful typing. My photographic memory may be good, but eye and finger co-ordination is becoming less than perfect as the years advance.
I like your composition and your thoughts. Really very important - photos from another life that has gone forever! I've got boxes and boxes of our past family's photos! What to do with them!
Nice composition and shot, Ann. Sorry to hear something not so good happened to a relationship. You know that I understand that 100%. I do hope that it sorts itself out for the good for you. You know how to reach me if you need to. Sending hugs to you in PA
@taffy Thank you Taffy for the encouraging words- a little better today (some happier photos and more people I recognize than those I don't!). Still struggling a bit though, however, I've lived long enough to know, this too shall pass.
@wordpixman Thank you Arthur for those sweet words of encouragement. 70 years- Wow!! You have seen some wonderful things in those years I'm sure- and the advances in photography alone must be staggering in some ways! Thankfully for my own pictures I have been more attentive. Plus I am (shall we say delicately) slightly obsessed with organizing things! LOL As for eye-hand coordination, I understand that too as it's never been a strong suit for me either!
@maggiemae Thank you Maggie! The hardest thing is that my mother, my father, or my mother's brother could probably tell me who many of them were, but they are all gone. My mother's sister who is still alive, was in a severe car accident about 12 years ago and has lost a lot of the memory from her childhood, so she is unable to fill in the blanks. Oh well!
@digitalrn Thanks Rick! I have done two day's worth and now it's time to take a break- but I still have a few boxes and picture frames to go through! I'll be glad when it's all done though.
@kt8ird Thanks Kate! I'm getting there! @altadc Thank you Alta! Yes, I love seeing the pictures of the people and places from my childhood that I do remember. It's like being there again in some ways.
@prttblues Thank you Bev! You're a good friend! It's an event in life where one door closes and another opens- so it's not totally bad. But without going into the whole story- I was expecting the door to close- but not this soon. The other party did so through a rather unprofessional email- and that was the tough part. Writing a response to said email was difficult, but that too had to be done. Tomorrow my letter of response goes out in the mail, and I am dusting off my shoes and moving on. What else can you do, right? It's just sad it ended on less than friendly terms. But thankfully it's not all out slanderous or malicious- just stupidity and insensitivity (with a little dose of hypocrisy on the other party's part). Anyhoooooo- the hugs are greatly appreciated!
@salza Thank you Sally! Oh, write a little something on the back of those photos when you remember- it will help someone like me down the road! hehe A few years ago I had put together a scrapbook for my dad with some of his family photos. My sister gave it to me the last time I saw her and today I discovered who some of those "unknown" people were by looking through the book. Now I can go back and cross reference the unmarked photos. It will take some time but it will be worth it!!
@daisymiller Thank you Daisy and thank you especially for the fav! You are quite welcome for the reminder! I know you have a son (and I have two)- he will be glad you marked them too!
Somehow I missed that you were doing this challenge at all as your tag self-stories doesn't show up with mine SelfStories. So yay! I have more to read than I realized.
@pandorasecho Thank you Dixie! I just discovered I've been tagging them all wrong. I will get around to retagging them tomorrow. I thought it was strange that you had not commented on any yet!
You should keep your tag and just add mind. Summerfield has mine as well as SummerfieldSelfStories so she can participate but also keep her own collection.
@wordpixman Thank you Arthur for those sweet words of encouragement. 70 years- Wow!! You have seen some wonderful things in those years I'm sure- and the advances in photography alone must be staggering in some ways! Thankfully for my own pictures I have been more attentive. Plus I am (shall we say delicately) slightly obsessed with organizing things! LOL As for eye-hand coordination, I understand that too as it's never been a strong suit for me either!
@maggiemae Thank you Maggie! The hardest thing is that my mother, my father, or my mother's brother could probably tell me who many of them were, but they are all gone. My mother's sister who is still alive, was in a severe car accident about 12 years ago and has lost a lot of the memory from her childhood, so she is unable to fill in the blanks. Oh well!
@digitalrn Thanks Rick! I have done two day's worth and now it's time to take a break- but I still have a few boxes and picture frames to go through! I'll be glad when it's all done though.
@kt8ird Thanks Kate! I'm getting there!
@altadc Thank you Alta! Yes, I love seeing the pictures of the people and places from my childhood that I do remember. It's like being there again in some ways.
@prttblues Thank you Bev! You're a good friend! It's an event in life where one door closes and another opens- so it's not totally bad. But without going into the whole story- I was expecting the door to close- but not this soon. The other party did so through a rather unprofessional email- and that was the tough part. Writing a response to said email was difficult, but that too had to be done. Tomorrow my letter of response goes out in the mail, and I am dusting off my shoes and moving on. What else can you do, right? It's just sad it ended on less than friendly terms. But thankfully it's not all out slanderous or malicious- just stupidity and insensitivity (with a little dose of hypocrisy on the other party's part). Anyhoooooo- the hugs are greatly appreciated!