Family History: Priceless

Dad @ Bitliff's, some time in the 90's.

I am fresh off a 3 day Wedding Photo seminar called Mystic5. I'm inspired, motivated and even overwhelmed. I am still decompressing, but my mind has some clear thoughts.

One of my favorite quotes from one of the presenters, the amazing David Williams, is "Put your hand up if you have EVERY picture you want of the ones you love."

No one raised their hands.
And every time I read it I literally get tears in my eyes. I think of my father. On Feb 2 it will be 5 years since he passed away from Mantle Cell Lymphoma. His death is still a very painful thing for me, and it certainly seems hard to believe I've been carrying this pain around for 5 years. But I remember that scramble to find photos of our family to share. That was my task. Logical, considering I'm a photographer. It was painful for me to realize how long it had been since he and I had been in a photo together. I found one from my wedding, the end of the night (we never did the father/daughter dance, sadly), on the dance floor we leaned in and smiled, my lips were bright red from the ring pop I had been eating. It wasn't a great shot of either of us. And, it was 5 years old.

The last photo I took of my father was on Thanksgiving 2004. He was sick, but we didn't really know why yet. He sat on the floor leaning against the couch, because it was the only place he could get comfortable. My nephew had climbed up on the couch behind him and was rubbing has hand across the top of my father's head. He said something and my brother started laughing. I took the picture. My brother said "He just said your head is square!"

We all laughed. We have always teased my father about his square head. I have been accused of having one as well. No surprise there, since I look like him.

It's not a great photo, but it's the last one I took of him so I remember that moment.

The point is our families are part of our history, and photos help us keep track of that history. People really are losing sight of how important it is to record and keep these moments. Looking through a photo album is such an amazing and simple experience that gives people a lot of joy, yet we are starting to forget what that feels like. But our families and our stories are on those pages, and should not to be taken lightly. People need to remember what that feels like, and need to remember the value of images. Imagine if you are just starting your family, and you never take a single image off your hard drive. What would you do if your computer crashed and it was all lost? You could lose valuable family history. Your kids will grow up and never have those images of their childhood. Or worse, something could happen to you and your child may not be able to find a photo of the two of you together. Imagine how that would break their heart.

And technology is a fickle thing. What works today, may not tomorrow. Your DVD of images may not read or work on a computer in 5, 10 years. Again, family history lost. I am no longer allowing my business to operate as it has for the last year. I am restructuring what I offer and what I do. One of those items being that I can't, in good conscience, photograph families without getting albums made. Walking away with just a CD is not enough. Your family needs to be honored.

And, yes, photography is an investment. But so is your family, your health, your happiness. All of these things matter. Everyone wants to find the cheapest & quickest way to do everything, but where does that get you? Usually, having to pay for the same thing all over again, either because something broke or you weren't happy with the quality. How many vacuum cleaners have you bought/ will you buy? My mother spent good money on a Kirby and used it for almost 40 years. She would have spent ten times the amount if she just kept buying the cheapest and first vacuum she found.

I'm a firm believer in what may seem expensive today, will be priceless tomorrow. If my family had photos taken by someone like me back when I was a kid, you would not able to pry that album out of my hands today.

And luckily for all of us, the painful Sears Portrait is not the standard these days. Photographers are doing amazing things that will tell YOUR story, and leave your mark in the family history.

It's a new year, a new decade. Maybe a good time for all of us to remember the value of quality and hard work. And to record our family history.


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