Photographs

[Srbo]

In todays world and with the new technology and whatnot, the value of a real photograph seems almost forgotten.
Video cameras, digital cameras and so on...you snap a pic or a video, upload it on your PC, email it and that`s that.
Rarely anymore people have the will or the time to actually develop pictures...and of course, it is also cheaper this way.

Just when the war started, back home, my late father told me, time and time again...
" Son, if ever anything big happenes...you know, like our property is in danger and such - nevermind anything else - grab the photoalbums. That`s the one thing you can`t replace. Those memories.
Don`t forget, the photoalbums!"

But, as it turned out...I didn`t save them. Hundreds and hundreds of pictures got lost in the inferno that burned down my house and the entire city.

Today, I have only a few photos left, from those old, happy times.

And I am looking at the only one right now where we all still together, and alive...Dad, Mom, my brother and my sisters. And, once again, I`m close to tears.
Happy faces, smiling, standing in front of our house. Nvermore, nevermore...ever...

The photo is loosing on colour, on sharpness, like it wants to fade away, just like the memories that I have...but, for this photo, I`d be willing to fight with my life for it.

You got any photographs that are that dear to your heart ?

[Liselle]

I have one of my son (mark) who had a habit of falling asleep anywhere after he had been to nursery. This one is asleep on his back on the stairs, it's as if he'd been coming down stairs and just sat down and fell asleep. Everytime I see it it just makes me smile.

[Natjen26]

It's can sound silly but I have this picture of one of my cats who died a few years ago. Pluis was the first cat we had and he was one of a kind. I'm an avid pet lover!! And I shot this about a month before he died (long illness).

http://www.i-grmbl.be/Pluis2.JPG

Maybe it doesn't belong here, because most of you will have people in the pictures, but the people in my life have a tendency to come and go, so I don't easily attach myself, not even to family.

[Wendy Capps]

In todays world and with the new technology and whatnot, the value of a real photograph seems almost forgotten.
Video cameras, digital cameras and so on...you snap a pic or a video, upload it on your PC, email it and that`s that.
Rarely anymore people have the will or the time to actually develop pictures...and of course, it is also cheaper this way.

Just when the war started, back home, my late father told me, time and time again...
" Son, if ever anything big happenes...you know, like our property is in danger and such - nevermind anything else - grab the photoalbums. That`s the one thing you can`t replace. Those memories.
Don`t forget, the photoalbums!"

But, as it turned out...I didn`t save them. Hundreds and hundreds of pictures got lost in the inferno that burned down my house and the entire city.

Today, I have only a few photos left, from those old, happy times.

And I am looking at the only one right now where we all still together, and alive...Dad, Mom, my brother and my sisters. And, once again, I`m close to tears.
Happy faces, smiling, standing in front of our house. Nvermore, nevermore...ever...

The photo is loosing on colour, on sharpness, like it wants to fade away, just like the memories that I have...but, for this photo, I`d be willing to fight with my life for it.

You got any photographs that are that dear to your heart ? Oh my God, yes. Now my children's of course, but old pics hold the most memories of times gone by. Some of Mom, Grandmother & Grandfather, Aunt & Uncle from 30'-40's. Also some of my Great Grandmother from 1920's on old cardboard type photos.. My uncle was shot down and a German POW.. I could not even imagine your experience. Keep the faith SRBO.

[Spideyman]

The one of my grandparents at the summer farm. Only film cameras back then.

[mstay]

A picture of 4 generations. My Mom holding me as a baby and my Grandma and Great Grandma standing behind us. I love this picture!

[rose key]

It's can sound silly but I have this picture of one of my cats who died a few years ago. Pluis was the first cat we had and he was one of a kind. I'm an avid pet lover!! And I shot this about a month before he died (long illness).

http://www.i-grmbl.be/Pluis2.JPG

Maybe it doesn't belong here, because most of you will have people in the pictures, but the people in my life have a tendency to come and go, so I don't easily attach myself, not even to family.

I think it certainly does belong here. This is treasured picture that holds dear memories for you, and I'm sure that's what Srbo is talking about.
The love we have for our pets may not compare to the love we have for our children or parents, but it is a deep love nonetheless. I've had cats in my life I still miss after they've been gone 20 years.

I've lost my photographs not from a fire, but from a warehouse that we lost possession of. It's no less devastating, because the things cannot be replaced. I do have one photo album left, and I treasure it dearly. I think you are right, Srbo, looking at the pictures on the computer is not the same as having them in your hands.

[BarbYann]

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n84/barbyann/Personal/Chrisfavorite.jpg

Good thread. This picture of my son is so very special to me. It acts as some kind of mental time warp. If I stare at it for a bit I can actually start to smell the chlorine in his hair (he had just been in the pool). Then I will hear his Air Jordans thumping across the wide plank floors in our old house and the thud as he runs past the brass heating vent in the hallway floor. I can think of no other picture that can make me smell, hear and feel.

[SiN_kInG]

yea, only one though. it's a framed picture of my mother who passed away when i was 16. it sits on top of my bookcase actually. guarding my stephen king novels...she was a fan too :smile2:

[md10pc]

You will think this is funny but I have a packet of pictures so dear to me that whenever I go on vacation, I bring it into the office and lock it in our fireproof file! (I work for a very small company.) My dad loved photography and took lots of pictures; he also had a bunch of old family pictures in his possession when he died. I wish he would have written on the backs of more of them to identify the pictures. He had a picture of my grandmother (his mother) when she was in her 20's, standing with her six sisters and her parents. I never knew that I looked like her when I was young until I saw that picture.

All pictures, of loved ones or loved pets, are precious for the memories they hold. Thanks for sharing those thoughts, Srbo. You might get some copies made before the photos fade much more. It will be a treasure for your daughter too.

[Haunted]

I treasure the photo of my Dad and his men in front of one of their planes. This photo was taken only weeks before he was shot down. My son just recently found this picture on the Internet. I did not know it even existed. I was only 3 when he died and he had been gone most of the time. My son was so thrilled to find this picture as he had heard all of my stories, There were not very many to tell because my mother remarried and stories of the first husband don't get told that often.

I agree, Dear Srbo, see if you can't get that picture copied and protected somehow so your little one will always have it.:smile2: Our children need this connection to the past for their future.

[hipmamajen]

I love this photo of my twin girls. They were just home from a hospital a few days when this was taken, and it just took my breath away. I didn't adjust them or anything to take this photo, they just happened to be laying there in the exact same position. They did that sort of thing a lot in the beginning, and it always amazed me.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/37/79426271_ec35fbb03d.jpg



Here they are now, at the Stanley Hotel, pretending to be the creepy little girls from "The Shining." I think I've broken them...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2424/3655010878_a2326a25bf.jpg

[Dana Jean]

I can't look at pictures. It's very painful and I just want to be with the people looking back at me. I can't see them through my tears anyway, so why bother.:down:

[SKfan2006]

i don't know where the album is but there are pictures scattered here and there. like we have stuff from when my grandma was a young woman all the way up to the yearly christmas photo. nothing from before my grandma as far as i know. haven't caught onto the digital photo realm even though i'm part of the digital generation.

[Srbo]

Thank you, friends, for your comments and beuatiful pics you posted.:smile2:

Of course animals belong in here, I had a German Sheppard for ten years and he died that very same year the picture I was talking about was taken...and of course I think about him often.
No pic of him though. :sad:

Yeah, I know about copying my photograph, which I will have to do...but, you know, I`ll always know that it isn`t the orginal...

What can you do...God giveth, God taketh...

[Lily Sawyer]

Nathalie, are you kidding me???
I have pictures of the two Siamese that I grew up with and I feel fortunate to have them. I miss those cats (and our dogs) so much. If I lie still in bed, I can remember how one of them used to take up 4/5 of my pillow, and what his fur felt like, and what his purr sounded like.

Why do you think I have so many pictures of Mao on my profile?
People come and go in my life as well.
I can totally relate. :)

[Spideyman]

Agree about the animal pictures. That is why I keep my "Spideyman" as my profile picture. Though he has passed, he still lives on.

[phidgt]

We also lost a lot of old pictures due to a flood. It's unfortunate that the most irresponsible person in the family somehow obtained possession of these photos. They were all fairly old - some of them predating WWII of my Grandmother's family in Germany. I only have a small handful left.

Digital pictures may not have the same feel as actual photographs (such as e-books vs. an actual book), however, the ability to keep back-ups of these photos is quite handy. Plus, with today's printing technology, favorite pictures can be printed to resemble actual photographs quite easily and inexpensively.

[Roseasharn]

I have a portrait of my aunt Michele that is priceless to me. I've moved many times and lost many things, but never that.
And then the picture of my grandmother holding my newborn daughter less than a year before she died. I treasure that and hope that someday my daughter will treasure it too.

[Bryan James]

Jackovassilevphotography.com has some Really good stuff.

I met Jacko a couple months ago, and we talked for almost an hour. He had a few pictures with him. "Neat guy," I thought...then I saw the other pictures on his website and I was Super F'ing floored!

Photography is not a dead art.

BJS

[Srbo]

Thank you so much yet again for sharing it all with me, my friends.:)

[Patricia A]

My childhood was kind of odd in that we used to 'move' a lot. We lost so many things, photos being among the lost things.
My sister has a few pictures from our childhood now, collected from various aunts and cousins over the years.
I don't really like looking at them though, it makes me feel uncomfortable, almost like I'm looking at someone else's life.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa219/plcarmstrong/YvonneandTinkerbell.jpg

One picture I really do love, is one of my sister at our aunt's house when she was about 5 holding her kitten Tinkerbell. :smile2:

Perhaps explaining my love of LOL cats... hmmmmm.

[Srbo]

Awwww...thank you, Pat, so much for this picture.
Priceless.:)

[sheba41]

I have alot of nice pic's of my son when he was little, but they are not on my computer ...yet. This pic I love so much, it's me and my brother...he died 9 months ago....time goes so fast...When I look at this pic, I feel fine because It was a very nice day....miss you Ugo:love:

[sheba41]

O, sorry...forgot to put the pic on.....stupid http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm7/sheba41/angella016-1.jpgme....

[Srbo]

I have alot of nice pic's of my son when he was little, but they are not on my computer ...yet. This pic I love so much, it's me and my brother...he died 9 months ago....time goes so fast...When I look at this pic, I feel fine because It was a very nice day....miss you Ugo:love:

Thank you for the picture and my deepest condolences, Sheba. :sad: