Thank heavens for my DSLR with a good zoom / the “activity” auto-setting / plus continuous snapping of several photos in sequence. It was a hard-fought soccer game – back and forth, back and forth, and no score at all!!
Then in the last minutes of the game with a grand charge of the net, a goal was scored (turns out it was the only goal of the game). The one who kicked it celebrates along with her teammate whooping it up next to her.
Not only will this snapshot (which did include the goalie unsuccessfully diving for the ball) thrill those players as they reflect on it when they view the snapshot, and certainly their parents who may have missed the game or even the moment of the kick, but….
Think about the memories that will flood back in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years or more, when they view this one snapshot in time.
Photos truly can be “return tickets” to significant moments that are gone in a heartbeat.
Of course, some truly remarkable ones come to mind:
In your own life story, it may be pictures of you on your favorite bike that you rode everywhere…or with your high school mates as you marched together at graduation…or other key events and times that come back to you in a flash along with all the attendant memories and stories the photo invokes.
And here’s the “tree falls in the forest” question – without that photo, would you have remembered that particular moment or event or the evoked memories and stories that came from it and surround it?
I know you ‘get it’ but let me spur you one more step down the ‘action’ lane.
As I pulled the game photos together for my granddaughter’s digital page I was creating for her album, I couldn’t resist texting her a copy of the above photo. Of course, it will be fun to see right now but it won’t survive the text roll, the change of phones, etc. But her album might. Have you thought about what “return tickets” you would like to have preserved? Are they going to be around – where and how long?
In defense of my grandmotherly “stalking” of my family with my DSLR camera (it is red, so I am not THAT surreptitious), I point to the wise photographer who knows this area well – Nick Kelsh.
I previously did a blog titled “Do You Have Photo Power?” and used Nick Kelsh’s quote below.
Now it could be modified, given our first quote, to emphasize the power YOU have to create and preserve “return tickets to moments otherwise gone” in a way that is truly impactful. And not just for the subject person in the photo, but to a generation or two beyond that person.
Okay, okay – I hear the “I don’t have time” and “someone else will surely do it, won’t they?’ comments rolling in response to me.
So let me share the quote that I ran across this week that urges me to write this blog. “Do not let the urgent take precedence over the important” by Jayaraman Ramachandran. In other words, don’t lose sight of what is REALLY important just because a lot of other “stuff” is demanding your attention.
And there are tons of “ooh” and “ahh” photos we love the moment we see them. So you have to do the “heart check” when you look back over the last week (or weeks) of photos taken with your phone or camera, or even ones someone else took and are in danger of ending up in “neverland”. Here’s a bit of a test you can apply when you see special photos:
- Is it one that will make the “subject” of the photo’s heart sing? If not today…in the future?
- Is it one that memorializes a key event in their life (or yours)?
- Is it one that captures and represents many good times together? Keep just this one.
- In the past year, is this the best photo with this “subject”? You need at least one of these.
You see, it is not really a huge number of photos – and if you have a quick and easy system in place for dealing with the special ones that come along, you are much more likely to use it and later gain the joy of “return tickets”.
Here’s my suggested path for you:
- If you don’t have a Forever.com account, sign up for the free one today (it gives you 2 GB of storage) HERE
- From the home site, click on the “Album” tab (middle right of page)
- Create an Album (click “+ New Album” green button)
- Name it “2021 Return Tickets”
- Select “friends & family” privacy setting
- Put in description box: Here are my “return tickets to moments otherwise gone”
- As soon as you take one of those “special” photos (and plan time to go back over the current year of photos looking for others) then “upload” them to this album
- Put in your calendar or reminder system the date of December 31, 2021 (or pick your own date) and schedule yourself to go to this online album and decide what you want to do with these “return ticket” level photos to enjoy but especially to preserve them.
- DO THIS ONE IMPORTANT STEP! …even if you also make digital albums or special gifts of one or all of your “return tickets” – make sure you set up an Account Manager for your Forever.com photos — someone in your family (or close friends) who will have the ability to control what happens next to these if you are not around. This account lasts your lifetime + 100 years.
- Disclaimer: you do have to purchase some amount of permanent storage to be able to appoint an Account Manager (watch for specials on this). As soon as you purchase any amount of permanent storage, your free 2 GB of storage becomes part of the total permanent storage available to you.
- Full detail of how to set up an Account Manager is in this article HERE
If you take these steps to get this trusted “quick and easy” system in place, all you do when a special photo comes along is upload it to this album –WooHoo. (which you can even do from your phone – that’s another blog to come) Then as soon as you do that, raise your fists in the air (just like the girl in this photo) and celebrate your WIN!
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