"RoseGarden" - - - - - - - from - nscave

Today I am offering a tip on those old photographs you have stashed away in boxes or maybe old albums.

Since my wife's passing, I have been going through boxes of old photographs taken years ago, slide trays of slides way back when, and even envelopes of negatives that I didn't know existed. And when you think you are all done, more turn up in the most unusual places.

My strong suggestion today is to sit down with your spouse, your mother, any member of your family you can, and label the backs of the prints with the person's name. It might even be helpful to put the date on there if you know it, and a little about where the photograph was taken.

I have so many photos with people I do not know at all, and others I know are relatives, but I do not know their name or the exact relationship to our family. These are priceless bits of the family tree, but will likely never be complete because of the lack of information.

So write that information lightly on the back of each print or snapshot now, while you can. Someday you, or they, may not be around to tell who it is.

If you have lots of negatives, write the information on the clear portion with a fountain pen. (You do know what a fountain pen is, right? Markers do not work very well.) If that is not practical at least put a note in the negative envelope or write on the envelope itself.

If you are younger and all your pictures are digital, information is just as important. You can use most photo programs to add comments and information. For example the top rated free Irfanview program allows you to add comments by clicking on Image>Information>Comments. You can add all the infromation needed and it will stay with the picture forever. There is a lot of other information supplied there about the picture as well.

If you have a lot of pictures all of this would take a very long time. Try doing a few each evening or each weekend until they are done. Then as you take pictures, keep them up to date. It is worth it.

I have so many pictures of our life together along with members of our families from the time we were all kids to the later grown up years. There are so many mysteries. I just wish all that information had been compiled at the time the pictures were taken or given to us.

-=One Day At A Time=-

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Labels: family photo, photo information, pictures, snapshot

This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License