1.03.2011

the citizen's #1 photo tip

Over the past few months, I've reviewed literally thousands of family photos spanning the last 30 or so years. As a result, I've had a number of epiphanies about the creation and preservation of photo memories. Unfortunately, many of them are only applicable to the quaint, soon-to-be archaic practice of actually getting prints of your photos to mount in albums or (more commonly) file in shoe-boxes in a closet. (This change is actually a big deal. More about it in some future post.) But the single most valuable insight I've gained is applicable to any personal picture taking. And it is this:
No matter what your reason for taking pictures, be it a birthday, graduation, party, date, vacation, goofing around or whatever, take more pictures of the people who mean a lot to you and fewer pictures of the scenery. When you revisit those pictures years or decades later, the fact that you have personal proof that Hawaii has nice beaches, or that there are spectacular waterfalls in Yosemite, or that the Eiffel Tower is, in fact, in Paris, will mean absolutely nothing compared to having a rich visual record of who you and the people you've known and loved were, back when you were experiencing those beaches or waterfalls or Paris.
Trust me on this one. You'll thank me later.

2 comments:

nancyenge said...

Thanks for the wise protip, citizen. I would add the corollary:
Do it even if they always make goofy faces.

Erin O'Brien said...

**speechless**