Someone recently shared a quote with me:
“If you don’t think photos are important, wait until they are all that you have left. “
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And this coincided with a colleague reviewing, my marketing efforts, including this podcast and commenting on the link between my family history & this podcast.
It made me stop & think about things, and why I had started the podcast.
For me, it’s about encouraging people to take everyday photos, AND preserve their stories in photographs.
As much as it is about those old family photographs.
Definitely get those out, and get notes made before it’s too late 🙂
Listen to the Podcast:
Or read the episode transcript:
For me it came to a head when I was, clearing my father’s house with, my brother, four years ago now.
My mother had passed away 20 years previously. So we’d already had a gap where if we were looking at family photographs, we weren’t quite sure who they were, and we haven’t got a lot of surviving relatives left to be able to ask who these people are.
And that makes me quite sad on some days.
I also noticed how my Mother’s side valued photographs much more than my Dads’ side.
This was brought home when my Aunt returned a photograph of my brother and me, with a note along the line of “it’s best that you have this back because it’ll just get thrown away when I die.”
But, I guess people that’s what happens. People do throw their photographs away, something my Dad would have hated and that’s probably why we found a small old-fashioned suitcase with photographs that we think came from, Dad’s side of the family.
Probably because he was the only one interested in retaining them when our grandmother died and we were still quite young then. I only have vague memories of meeting her.
Mum’s side – literally had a trunk full, and a few albums.
Family tree-wise, I haven’t done it personally, but other family members have done it. Sadly not with matching photos.
Which is why the quote with me, if you don’t think photos are important, wait until they are all that you have left, you know, it really resonated,
I know we’ve got plenty of demands on our time and our money,
But photographs prompt memories
And so I do want to encourage people to take photographs themselves and to enjoy looking back on them.
Even recently photos, It’s not all about old photographs.
It’s the same with your baby photographs.
You think/hope you’re gonna remember every second, but you just can’t and actually being able to look back on photographs and, remember when they had dimples or when they had curly hair and, is quite joyful.
I go for a morning walk, and the days that I can’t find anything to photograph are frustrating because I enjoy finding random things to photograph in beautiful light.
So frosty leaves, for example, or just even the view across the Hills.
I don’t go photographing people when I’m out walking, because that would just be too much like the day job.
I just find it quite, peaceful to be able to see a beautiful, I see photographs everywhere basically.
Bit of a photographic version of meditation in some ways.
I just capture these images on my phone.
And, I’m building up quite, a library of images that I’ve taken through the seasons of our local area. And I won’t do anything with them. They’re just in my journal, but it sets me up for the day.
It keeps me thinking and looking creatively.
So when I come into the studio, my eye is warmed up, shall we say, it’s not all about the camera. But the six inches behind the camera are just as important 🙂
I’m constantly, looking for inspiration and new ways of seeing things. But anyway, we digress.
I know not everybody values photography in the same way. but I just wanted to put the thoughts out there that,
In fact, there’s another quote that sums it up quite well
“We take photos as the return ticket to a moment otherwise gone”.
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About Your Podcast Host – Sue Kennedy of Sue Kennedy Photography
Sue is a professional portrait photographer based in Harlow, Essex and she specialises in baby, child and family portraiture. Being a parent, she understands just how special your child is to you and her aim is to produce a collection of images that are natural and meaningful to your family. No two moments are ever the same and she wants to perfectly capture those early precious memories and the natural character of your child.
For more information please call 01279 433392, or visit the Sue Kennedy Photography website.
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