Don’t lose time making memories
Anyone who knows me know that I am a picture-taking fanatic. I always have my camcorder and digital camera with me wherever my son and I go. I take a bunch of pictures, upload them to my computer, then transfer a copy to my online photo albums to share them.
So I end up with a copy on my camera (which I am always afraid to erase for some reason), a copy on my computer, a copy online, a backup copy on CD and then eventually I order prints of all of them and if they’re lucky, someday they might make it into an actual photo album.
Does this sound a bit obsessive-compulsive to you? It does to me. But how do I break this habit? I always feel a tinge of guilt if a weekend goes by and I never get to organizing all those hundreds of photos, putting dates on them, putting them in albums. Then buying more albums. Then buying things to scrapbook with, but never getting around to doing it.
If I take less pictures, I may miss out on something remarkable and kick myself later. But if I’m constantly behind the lens of a camera, I feel I’m missing out on the actual experience. Which of the evils is worse?
After a good bout of guilt over a under-productive picture-sorting weekend, I always think to myself ”if I had spent all those hours organizing pictures all weekend, I would have missed out on capturing new memories.” So the guilt subsides, but the pictures multiply.
It’s a neverending dilemma.
Any suggestions? I would love to hear some.
-Erica Smith
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Comments
Thank you, Lillie-Beth! I also had a great suggestion from a friend who said she gets photo books made after each event. She uploads them to the Walmart Web site and orders a book $3.88. I thought that was a neat idea too, because it eliminates the buying photo albums and they already come organized and dated!
I do the same thing, and I have twice missed out on seeing something cool — Princess Diana in person and dolphins jumping in the sea — because I was too busy trying to capture the moment on what at the time was film. My Princess Diana pictures did not turn out, so I didn’t see her nor do I have evidence that I was only a few feet away from her once.
From those two things I learned that the experience and the memory is more important than the picture, no matter how much I love photography and even as I try to capture both.
As for scrapbooking, I took the pressure off myself years ago to finish any scrapbooks. It was too hard to get to and it’s even harder today. One thing I did do for my kids, and I resolved to do it every birthday or at least once in a while, was buy an album with slip in photos and space to write in the side what they were doing, where and when. I didn’t even write it the margins. They loved it and if they ever want to fill in what they remember of the event, they can. I’ve done that once; I’ll get back to another one for each of them someday.
Another idea for enjoying photos is a digital picture frame which cycles through as many as your memory card can fit.
For me, It’s hard to stay on top of everything. I still struggle with how to organize digital photos, how to enjoy them and how to make sure I have adequate backup (and yes, you’re not the only one — I put them on my computer and an external hard drive, burn them to a CD and then upload them to Kodak Gallery before I feel comfortable erasing them from the camera.)
A photographer friend of mine whose husband was once stationed in Oklahoma sometimes blogs about the subject and preserving memories. Check her and her amazing photography out at christinegacharna.com.
Enjoyed the post.
~Lillie-Beth