Sorry about the cheesy title… I thought I'd do a little 'life' update.
I've recently taken it upon my self to scan in all the family photos we have lying around in old albums and boxes, one: because they go unlooked at for years at a time and two: to make a back up of them should anything happen to them.
It's actually turned out to be a much bigger task than I first anticipated, not only do we seem to have literally thousands of old snaps (I wish I wasn't exaggerating) but actually getting them out of the albums and ready to scan in itself is a whole other mission! needless to say it's going to take me a while. But aside the growing frustrations and monotony of the task I have also been really enjoying being able to look back through all our precious moments as a family. It has given me a much greater appreciation for all the times, My dad in particular had a camera stuck in our faces snapping away. It has to be said he was quite a good photographer actually, and some of the candid shots he'd taken are actually quite beautiful, something I think only someone who really loves taking pictures is able to do. Capturing the moments that weren't quite meant to be preserved, or those moments that are priceless but often missed.
Family photos for me are quite a personal thing, I mean they are something that's generally only interesting to those that they include… I know my boyfriend isn't all that bothered when I say 'look at this one' for the fiftieth time in a row, and I guess thats because they are not his memories, or of his special people. Which is fine, Don't get me wrong and to be quite honest there are certain photos that I wish weren't part of our archives… (what is with naked bath photos!? and downright embarrassing hairstyles…)
Another thing, I am the youngest of four with a relatively large gap between me and my oldest brother (8 years), so there is actually quite a lot I wasn't 'around for yet' so it's nice to be able to look back at the memories and special moments being made before I was. Seeing baby photos of people you've only ever had memories of as adolescents is nice.
*sentimental moment alert*
Also by doing this apart of me is feeling really nostalgic and sad being that it was my father who took most of the photos its a way I can feel close to him. It's a way for me to be able to connect with him, it's like… I'm seeing things through his eyes through the pictures… I can you know, its like he was there… physically taking the pictures, they represent exactly what he was seeing in that moment, moments that he deemed special enough to document. I'm not sure if this makes sense but like loosing a parent it isn't an easy thing to express. What I'm trying to say is that its really nice, and I'm just feeling a really deep appreciation for my old man right now, and not just my Dad, My Mum took her fair share of the photographs too.
I can see this post becoming quite cheesy and sentimental if I don't reign it in a little so I'll try and sound like less of a cliche!
I'm really glad that my parents decided to documents so much our our lives growing up, at the time it could sometimes feel like an invasion of privacy, who, at 5/6 wants a camera up in their face at 6am when all you want to do is open your birthday presents! All those times we were made to line up as a foursome and 'pose', all the times our dad walked half a mile behind taking pictures of the scenery a glimpse of us in the distance, I guess even the naked bath photos have their place in our family photo archives.
I'm going to end this post by including some of the photographs that I like, I know to 99.9% of you these won't be remotely interesting, I'm not even entirely sure who the 0.01% might be that will find these interesting… But I feel like there is too much text thus far! Even if you don't appreciate the subjects in the pictures I feel like some of these photos merit recognition from a photography point of view if nothing else.
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| maybe I was annoyed at someone knocking my drink over!? |
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| classic example of what my dad loved capturing… random! |
