My grandmother has a shelf full of vintage photo albums. All of them labeled by year. Ever since I was a small child I’ve been drawn to them.
I’ve browsed these albums a hundred times, and each time I find something new. During a recent visit I found this photo of my grandparents backyard (below). It’s a snapshot taken during a hail storm, circa 1978. When I see this image, so many childhood memories come flooding back to me. Picking grapes next to the garage, climbing up the fruit trees to snag a sour apple or an almost ripe plum, hunting for that last elusive easter egg, which was always hidden in the hollow end of the clothesline…
I love the power photographs have to transport us back in time, help us relive memories, trigger emotions and evoke a sense of time and place. And I love that my grandmother created these amazing albums so we could share in her memories over the years. I know someday she will be gone, but she will always live on through these images.
If I’ve learned one thing through this experience it is this: Print your photographs. Make albums and wall displays. Get your pictures out of your computers and into your lives. Photos are meant to be shared, enjoyed, and treasured… and they can’t do that locked away on your hard drive!
As for me, I think I’m going to have a large print of the vintage backyard photo made to display in my house. I’m going to call it my “time machine.”
(From left) Vintage photos of my grandparents, my great grandparents, and my dad and his two brothers. I bet my grandma had her hands full with those three boys!
And just for fun, a vintage image of my sister and me when we were little! 🙂