A funny moment while trying to take a family picture during our vacation.
Photos (3)
Photos
I’m recovering from a week of vacation. I have uploaded 488 digital pictures from my camera, the luggage has been unpacked, and I have sand in my washing machine—which I may never be able to get rid of.
Thank goodness I am raising my children in the digital age, because I don’t know how I could continue my photography hobby on a budget at the rate in which I take pictures. Four hundred eighty-eight for one week! And I’m struggling with deleting any of them. There are so many that could be deleted, but then I spot a small hint of something.
The freckles on Z’s nose that seem to sprout over night in the sun, the funny moment captured between the boys while trying to take a family portrait, the pictures that serve as a reminder of never being able to capture L looking into the camera and making eye contact so that when it happens, I am elated. (Only one out of 488)
Every time I delete one I regret it and go back, look again … is there something there that tells the story of the day? Will this be one of those pictures that five years from now I will wish I saved, even though it’s over processed and blurry?
I recognize how ridiculous I am being.
I’m not a mom that keeps really anything. My kids are use to it. Some parents horde everything their child makes from pre-K finger paintings to high school essays. That is just not in my nature; instead, I purge with a vengeance. The Mother’s Day cards stayed on the fridge long enough that the boys actually asked to take them down. I do keep some things hidden in scrapbooks but not many; it really has to be “special”.
Maybe I need to step away from the vacation pictures and look at them with new eyes in a week or so—allow my eyes to readjust to the overhead fluorescent lights in my office and the desk chair that doesn’t have the same slope as my beach recliner did.
Maybe then I will be ready to let some of these moments go.
Are you able to sift through your family pictures and delete the boring or bad ones? Or, do you just run out to Best Buy and purchase more memory for your computer? (I’m considering it.)
Gretchen talks about crafts, conscience living and parenting on her blog, CocktailMom.com
Dawn Mooney
2:37 pm on Tuesday, June 21, 2011
We have an external hard drive, and that certainly helps with photo storage for us!
I don't think you're being ridiculous at all. I look at it this way- we have the technology, so I'd rather save as many pictures as possible, because each has its own nuance. And our kids never tire of just looking at the photo slide show on the computer, remarking about their own memories as the pics go by.
My vote is for more memory on the computer! :)
Gretchen Schock
3:17 pm on Tuesday, June 21, 2011
I'm leaning towards more memory. How do you like that family photo Dawn? When I was scanning through my images I thought of your family's previous attempts at getting everyone looking in the same direction in family photos. I don't think we have one that all of us are looking at the camera....but that is exactly what photoshop is for :)