A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

 

     There is an old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words. I think the phrase really means that a picture can lead someone to write a thousand words about it. Pictures themselves don't always give you all of the information you need to realize the story that goes with it but it does give you something to spark the imagination or feed your curiosity. 

     Before photography there were artist who drew and painted what their eyes saw, their work was beautiful and fill museums around the world today and then came photography.  Photography got it's start back in the early 1800's, the cameras were large cumbersome boxes made of wood that had to be set up on a tripod, the negatives were glass plates that had to be handled with care. The person or item being photographed had to remain perfectly still for about 30 seconds and all of the pictures were black and white.

     By the time I was born anybody could be a photographer, the cameras were small hand held and contained rolls of film that were sent away to be developed after exposer. The pictures were still black and white but a professional photographer could colorize the picture after it was developed, my and my brother Pat's baby pictures were colorized in this way. Sometime around the late 50's or early 60's you could buy color rolls of film for your camera, here again there are color pictures of me as a handsome teenager, in a swimsuit no less, showing off my lean mean body.

     Now I was never a camera type of guy although I did from time to time take a few pictures, my mother was the camera person in the family and Linda took her place when we married. Between the two of them my life and that of my boys is well documented. Way back then  ( circa 1967 ) one of the big things was taking pictures after they were developed and putting them in photo albums that then accumulated on coffee tables and book shelves. Linda cherished her photo albums, for her they stored memories of the people she loved but after a while they became collectors of dust. When she passed away we had 19 albums filled with photos going back to the 1930's plus a stack of loose photos, mostly the albums held memories of our 47 year marriage.

     Technology has advanced at a rapid pace in my life time, pictures once printed on a piece of paper and accumulated in albums which accumulated on bookshelves or closet floors now fit in to a flash drive the size of  your little finger with room to spare. Even cell phones have a larger capacity than 19 albums. There is no more waiting for the pictures to be developed and they can be uploaded to a printer if you want a hard copy.

     Five years went by before I decided to do something with our photo albums, they held a lifetime of memories which I carried in my thoughts, they no longer held the same meaning they once held so what am I to do with them. I decided to sort the pictures and have them installed on a flash drive for the boys but there was a problem - I was not the person to do this because I had no idea what the hell I was talking about.

     This is where it helps to have kids who are smart and up to date with technology, Danny to the rescue. I sat down and removed all of the pictures from the albums, sorted them by year, labeled them with names, dates and places and gave them to Danny, he in turn copied them on his phone then transferred them to a flash drive, it took him almost a year but I was in no hurry.

     I started this blog so my kids, the grandkids and hopefully future generations will have something to look back on and see several generations of family that they never knew. I have put down every memory that comes to mind, they come a little slower now but they do still come. The pictures will put a face to my stories. 

     So, MJ and Matthew, somewhere there are pictures of people you never knew, your dad and uncle Clay from the time they were babies, your grandmother and I from when we were babies, great grandparents, great great grandparents back to the 1800's. Hopefully all of this will light a fire in your curiosity from an early age and you will add to what I have started.