Cull the bad photos and bad memories from your life by creating albums of eternal joy.
A photo’s worth a thousand words so make sure you have some chatterbox albums to browse through on rainy days or for when you need inspiration.
Have you ever seen professional tourists? I mean the sort of tourists who make touring an art. They take photos like they mean it; everything is photographed but it is also interestingly photographed so they’ll take distance pics that look like they’re leaning on the Tower of Pisa or they’ll get on the floor to take pics of their family under giant spiders, like the one by Louise Bourgeois outside the Tate Modern. In short, they get excited about producing really interesting photos for their albums. If, like me, you’re too busy enjoying the moment to take a photo of it, here’s a thought to make you remember. When you’re old and perhaps can’t travel as easily as before, you can revisit feelings, thoughts and the excitement by looking at old photographs. They are also one of the greatest treasures you can leave your future generations of family.
Looking at old photographs of my family, I’m amazed at the stories they tell. I have one of my grandmother in very dapper 1940s wide leg trousers, with an English short jacket and a sun hat on, looking young and elegant and not at all like her older, rather forbidding self, always in a traditional sari. This photoreminds me that people we think of as ‘old’ were young once and probably made a much more exciting job of it than we’re doing now. It is only through beautiful photos like these that we get a sense of the person as an individual rather than just as the relationship we have with them.
In your own photo collection there will be some photos that just make you smile andmean so much to you. Where have you got them? Languishing in the back of a drawer, in an old cellophane album or in some dusty box in the attic? Take out your best photos and frame them or put them in a lovely tissue separated album to preserve them properly. I once found a gorgeous photo of my friend Ross as a child. He had the exact same grumpy look on his face that he sometimes has now. It made me laugh. Instead of having it where it could be seen, he had it in a kitchen drawer where it was being spattered with coffee and whatnot. I had it framed while he was away on holiday and when he returned it made him laugh too as he hadn’t seen it in ages. Apparently the grumpy look was because a girl had just tried to kiss him and we all know that girls are horrible and snotty.
What hidden treasures do you have in your drawers? Take a look today and bring them out into the open for you and your family to enjoy. In this age of digital photography we suffer from rarely bothering to go and get proper prints made of photos but you should try and get extra-special photos made into paper memories as well as on some disc.
However, one of the benefits of digital photos is that we’re much more likely to delete a bad photo from the memory card but, for some reason, we hang on to bad photos in our print envelopes. Perhaps we feel that a bit of the soul has been captured in a photo and we don’t want to throw that piece away? Whatever the reason, you enhance the power of good photos by culling the bad ones from your life. Start today and ruthlessly get rid of anything that is poorly shot or out of focus. You can also destroy any that remind you of miserable situations. Life’s too short to dwell on celluloid memories of the bad times.
Here’s an idea for you…
Scrapbooking is a massive craze in the States and it’s fast catching on in Britain. The idea is to make picture books with photos, card and creativity. You can stick memos to remind you where you were when a particular photo was taken. For example, you can stick in things like ‘baby’s first booty’ or your baby’s hospital wristband if it is a baby scrapbook you’re making. Or perhaps a Valentine’s card from your beloved if you’re making a romantic scrapbook.
Defining idea…
‘Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of embarrassment; photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure.’
TONY BENN, British politician
How did it go?
Q My brother has taken all our family photos — how can I get him to give me some of these important photos?
A Ask him to meet you in town with them. Then beat him up and take them off him. OK, no, just seeing if you’re paying attention. Take him along with you to a photo studio and get copies made while you wait. That way he doesn’t have to let them out of his sight and you get your copies.
Q I can’t bear the photos of me and my ex-husband. Is it OK to destroy them?
A That depends. If you have children, I would recommend that you don’t as your children will want to see the relationship they came from documented. If you don’t have children, it’s up to you but I personally hold on to my history as it will be interesting to look back when I’m a little old lady and am no longer wanting to kill my ex. Much.
Q My ex has some dodgy photos of me and he refuses to send them back. It’s really stressing me out — what should I do?
A Chill out. What’s the worst that could happen? He sells them to a porn magazine? And? No matter how gorgeous you are, you’re unlikely to generate the same level of interest as Pamela Anderson or Paris Hilton. I expect your ex is fine and wouldn’t do anything indiscreet with them but is enjoying winding you up by pretending he would. Act as if you don’t care and you soon genuinely won’t.