I used to be a big scrapbooker. Photos have always been in my blood, even before I had a “big camera.” I scrapbooked when I was in high school (before the big scrabook explosion). Do you want to know how I attached my pics to the pages before there were the double sided squares? RUBBER CEMENT! Gasp, I know…its painful. So far, the pics still look ok (14 years later) but I’m waiting for the acid to creep through and ruin them. Anway…back to the subject.
I used to cut the detail out of a lot of pics, a manual cropping job. I look back and wish I didn’t do that so much, because I love to see the scene behind the moment. I love to look at unsuspecting faces who were not told to say “cheese,” or see the home in disarray, or just be able to place where we were when we took the shots. In my portrait sessions, I include the “pull back” shots along with the close ups.
Today, I am encouraging you to capture the scene around you. Yes, I know, I like to pretend in my photos that my home is always clean, but when I look back at the shots of the mess, I love to see the details such as a toy my child used to play with, my purse that I long got rid of, a ceramic pitcher on the counter that was a wedding gift, but soon after shattered to a million pieces. The background scene tells a story in and of itself.
P.S. Come see the pics I took yesterday of my baby, HERE.
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Dixie Mom says
I agree! In the scrapbooking era I butchered a lot of great pictures with some funny stuff in the background. I shudder to think how many times I cut up those pictures into shapes and permanently mounted them to a page. Oh well. Thank goodness we have digital now so we can do both!
I'm a seeker of the stories behind everything.
You put it perfectly – that the background scene tells a story in & of itself.
Thanks for a perspective refresher and another enjoyable post, Kristen!
Well said! I love the background in the photos as well, and like you said, the close ups are great too. I do love the story and the mess of life behind the cute pics.
Christene from Whipperberry.com
I’m not sure if anyone has told you this yet or even if you will read this but I thought I’d give you a tip. If those pictures haven’t been ate away by acid yet you can still make an effort to save them. There is something called paper finishes make it acid-free which you can spray on the pictures. I’m not sure that it will help after so long but it may slow down the progress.