Recently my husband and I started sorting the multiple boxes of photos that we had accumulated over the almost 30 years we have been together. Most of the photos were still in the envelopes from the developer with the negatives in the pocket. The rest of the photos were stacked loosely in boxes. Only our favourite photos were in albums.
We planned to put them all in the several photo albums we had purchased. It wasn't too long before we realized that we did not have enough photo albums.
We also realized that many of the photos that we had been storing over the years were not worth keeping. We had so many duplicate copies of bad photos that our stack of garbage grew and grew and grew.
Many times over the years we have sorted through the photos and pulled out the ones we wanted for whatever project we were involved in. Never did we remove the negatives. The plan was to use them to reprint the photos should we ever desire to do so.
Flash forward to current times.
The costs associated with reprinting photos from negatives are prohibitive - assuming you can find someone who will do so. It honestly broke my heart to throw the negatives out. At the same time what exactly were we going to do with them?
Heading to the curb for garbage pickup was a very heavy garbage bag half filled with photos and negatives.
Looking at how many printed photos were not good we talked about how great it is that we use digital now. We have 2 digital frames that cycle 100s of photos using a small footprint.
BUT we still pang for the many different steps of old school photography.
We used to have a darkroom in our basement. Both of our boys learned, from their dad, to develop the photos they had taken.
Several years ago we decided the darkroom equipment took up too much room given how easy digital is, and gave it away.
This photo of our youngest, taken by his older brother, is a perfect example of a photo that could never be reproduced again.
Somehow the original photo OR the printing resulted in two photos merging into one. We aren't sure how it happened, but there is no doubt it couldn't be reproduced in a digital process.
This photo hangs in our hallway as a remembrance of a perfect moment in time.
Sorting through old photos & reminiscing about days of old!!!
This is why I search -
Cause ...
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***
Links:
Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/
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