wanted to document the everyday happenings in the life of my fam- ily as they were happening and doing it digitally seemed the easiest option. You’ll probably agree with me that it’s natural to photo- graph holidays, birthdays, and other special events, but sometimes we miss out on capturing the everyday moments that are equally as meaningful. So I use my blog, Everyday Life, to journal the events and photographs of our daily life. Now a couple years in, I’m in the process of printing that fi rst year of the blog into a book format, using an online service. I think it will be a special keepsake for sure. Starting a blog is relatively simple if you’ve got a bit of computer skill. And that’s just one of many avenues for using your photos.
“A picture’s worth a thousand words”. Isn’t that so true?! As a child, I loved pouring through old photographs – anything from family childhood pictures to my parents’ highschool yearbooks. I found it fascinating. T e detail those pictures shared spoke vol- umes. T e background, the clothes, the cars: their everyday sto- ries unfolded through pictures. It was great fun to study them.
I still love to pour over those old photos, but through the years, I’ve developed a real passion for taking them. My family will tell you that seldom am I without my camera in hand. I just don’t want to miss out on all those moments worth capturing on “fi lm”…from the look of laughter on a loved one’s face to the beauty of God’s handiwork in our gardens & groves, farms & ranches, there are endless subjects deserving to be memorialized by a photograph!
A picture can tell an entire story, without saying a word. Perhaps that’s one reason I’m drawn to the art of photography. To me, the photos I snap of our life, our home, and our family, tell a story. Our story. I sort of consider myself our family’s historian. It’s a joy and a passion to record our own Life at Home and I think it will be a valuable resource for future family generations. One challenge in taking lots of photos is how to keep them organized yet used.
T e main thing I want to encourage is this: whether you snap a hundred at a time or you’ve only got a few from your last family gathering, it’s important to do something with them. Don’t wait. You’ll fi nd yourself overwhelmed with loads of pics and unsure what to do with them. I know, I know…life is busy. Sometimes it’s easy to let those shots simply sit trapped in your camera, wait- ing to be uploaded and/or printed. Or maybe you’re up to date on your photo uploading, printing, and organizing, but they’re stuff ed in a photo box or stacked waiting to be sorted for albums. What do you do with your photos?
Whether you’re aſt er a simple system for photo organization or you want to create detailed scrapbooks - there are many creative and relatively easy ways to use those pictures you’ve taken. In this digital age, the “face” of picture taking has really changed. No lon- ger do we have to develop fi lm and then cull through to fi nd the good ones. Isn’t it great to be able to see those shots we take in- stantly?! And with all the editing tools, enhancement services and online printing sources, it’s fun to create a unique keepsake album.
Let me share with you a few options about which I’ve learned. A few years ago, I started an internet blog. My mission was simple – I
Me snapping a shot of my son, riding in the bed of the truck, as we rode through my Papa’s grove
Check out Project Life (
http://www.beckyhiggins.com/projectlife/). It’s a super easy pre-designed album that allows you to record an entire year in pictures. T e basic premise is simply to take a picture every day, recording the year. T e kit is versatile and user friendly and can be created digitally or as I use it, a traditional album. Once you get in the habit of a photo a day, it’s a fun and easy way to make a beautiful photo book. And it’s a positively excellent method to record a baby’s fi rst year, a newlywed’s fi rst year, or just life as you know it. Our family is on our second year of Project Life, each of us having a turn behind the lens, and we’ve had a ball with it!
So if you’re not already, I challenge you to turn your photos into something special and usable. Take those snapshots and use them to document life….life at home, life on your farm…life! Don’t wait for an occasion to document your story – start with the everyday. A wide angle shot of your farm as each new season begins, an or- ange grove in full bloom, the spring crop as it ripens, the chores that make up your day….I believe that all of those are “photo-wor- thy” and will be cherished by generations to come. Get out there and “shoot” Life at Home!
Questions? Suggestions? Contact Heidi Davis at
heididavisesq@embarqmail.com, or
www.davis-life.blogspot.com
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