scattered photos

My Uncle Jim used to say that he'd have a few years worth of pictures on one roll of film. I think that most men tend to be "like that"- not really into taking pictures. Maybe it's because women tend to be the photo snappers; guys just assume that we'll complete the job of taking photos. My uncle also used to say, "Why do I need photos when I have memories?"

My mom, on the other hand, used to be obsessed with taking photos. Case in point: she'd bring us to theme parks and make us pose for embarrassing pictures in front of statues. I recall once having to sit on a seal statue at Sea World. At the time [I was maybe in 5th or 6th grade], I was mortified: "Mom, don't make me! This is dumb." Now though, at age 26, I'd probably pose for a goofy pic like that. It's interesting how we try to grow up quickly when we're young but then when we're older we try to "go back."

I used to be very disciplined when it came to getting photos developed, putting them into albums, and labeling them... no crazy, super detailed captions- just the basic information. Maybe here and there I'd use one of those dopey photo "talking balloon" stickers.

Fast forward to now. I just spent about an hour going through tons of photo envelopes, trying to pinpoint the year and occasion of the photos. These were photos from 2003- to present. You can certainly tell how happy someone is feeling in life by looking at their photo collections. Where there are missing photos, there was unhappiness. I hardly have any photos from 2003-2004...a whole year!! 2005 is pretty scant too. 2006, I'm back with being like a tourist: tons of photos!

I only put a small amount of the photos in my album...it's complicated to explain. I have tons of pictures from the summer of 2005 and want to make an album for that...I was too lazy to start that this evening.

The whole way that people arrange photos fascinates me.

Some people put photos in those "photo boxes," categorizing the photos by years and dates through use of index tabs. I hate this method. Photos should be put out for display... Boxes do not seem to facilitate that need.

Some people are into scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is fine but I think people go over the top with it. Sometimes I think that people buy the borders/themed pages before a certain event occurs; then they try to purposely make that event occur. "Jimmy, we are going to have a jungle themed birthday party. I need to use up my African Safari scrapbooking borders and stickers."

Some people rely on keeping all of their photos online. Lunatics!!! I am now in the process of entering 2006 and buying a digital camera. Believe me, every photo I take will be developed into paper form.

My uncle's wife puts labels on the sides of her photo albums... an example being: Book #29, May 2005- June 2006. It is awesome to look at her bookshelf... she has books 14 through 29 sitting side by side. Apprently, books 1 through 13 are in storage. How awesome is that? Having 29 books worth of photos to show your experiences in life?!

Thinking back to experiences in life, I know the point when I was sad [the missing photos era]. It was when I first started teaching ---- I felt unconfident and felt like I was not making a difference, no matter how hard I tried. Now, 4 years later, I am much more confident...I still question whether or not I am "making a difference."

One thing's for sure though--I don't want to revert back to my photoless existence. I can't wait to get my digital camera:)