Camera Overboard

In July 2001 my husband took me to Cairns where he was running a seminar. While he worked, I drove around and hiked in the Tablelands and the Rainforest. Once he was done, we headed for our main destination: the Great Barrier Reef, where he was excited to go for his first Scuba dive. Having recently re-embraced scrapbooking the year before, every picture I took was with a page layout in mind, so you can imagine my dismay when our camera accidentally slipped overboard and had to be fished up from the ocean floor!



Being without a camera for the next month or two reminded me of the importance of responsibly storing our family's photo history and it also fueled my passion to help others to do the same. Without proper care, our grandchildren would inherit photos not much better than the pink, water-streaked pictures that were salvaged from our ruined (film) camera.

In the decade since I have worked diligently to gather, organise and transfer our photos from potentially damaging environments to safer storage. Taking time out to create pages and albums has been a form of reward for the organisational effort. While I started making albums to ensure my children had a good record of their family history, more recently the emphasis has been to enjoy the process more.

Maybe that is because I can see that the task is unlikely to be completed in my lifetime and I have begun to release that pressure. Maybe it is because it has been called 'work' for over a decade when it drove my business income. Maybe it is simply just time to relax a bit. Whatever the case, I am already thinking, "why didn't I begin playing sooner?"

It is wonderful to know that my hobby is also something that others can enjoy, too. While cutting and pasting has its charm, playing digitally has certainly increased the fun factor on several levels. And hopefully, those who visit with me here find it fun to look at the layouts, too. And if it inspires your own memories, then that makes it all the sweeter.

Isn't it wonderful to live in an age when it is so easy to capture the moment (past or present) and share it with those who share our interest and excitement. This blog has been a great motivator for me to try to feature at least one memory a week. Both the layout and the writing challenges are good for the creative juices and the fact that it is 'just for fun' makes it, well, all the more so!

Having someone drop by and leave a comment just increases the joy.

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Kits used in layout: Creative Memories Primary Digital Palette and Primary Vacation.

Snapshot Memories

Seems time for a bit of fun. When I came across this photo of my mother it made me giggle. It seemed perfect for a Mother's Day post.

As I worked on the layout the photo began talking to me (a perfectly normal experience!). The camera in her hands was probably carefully placed there by her father, a professional photographer. Cameras were a rather rare household item at that time, so one would think that her life was well documented on film, right? Well, not exactly.



My grandfather gravitated away from newspaper coverage (of people) and toward wildlife and nature photography. By the time she was 12 his photos rarely featured people, and then usually for scale in landscapes. The family snapshots were taken by, you guessed it, my grandmother!

So even in the days when cameras were considered to belong to the technical man's world, the candid family moments were not only seen, but captured by the women - usually on Brownie box cameras which came on the market in the 1900s! At least that was how it worked in this family anyway!

Women document their families. They write about them. They talk about them. They photograph them. They celebrate them. It seems largely in the domain of the women doesn't it - this task of family identity.

There is something wonderful about celebrating our memories with photos. If we can preserve the memories by writing about those photos, too, then the joy extends. Do you have a favourite photo of your mother? I wonder how many of them are snapshots rather than studio portraits! Perhaps a good exercise this weekend is to find one and write about the memories and feelings that it evokes.

Happy Mother's Day! Celebrate it with a photo memory.

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This layout is created with Creative Memories papers and elements from Vintage Romance Digital Kit and Romance Digital Power Palette. Title Font: Kelly. Text Font: VI University.