Photographs, an Imprint in History

Sometimes we all wish we could have fancy chairs to put our young children in to take a picture and the perfect back ground. And the perfect outfit with the child preened and pressed. Sometimes. Isn't this a grand picture of Oliver Rye?

What we learn from the background is equally important. My sweet Thomas is so good at recognizing the cars, for example. In the picture of the ladies spinning posted earlier, it was he that recognized they were standing in the snow. If you look at the photograph long enough you learn more than just who is in the picture. We have read that; I think we know that. It is like being a detective! Sometimes when we find a new picture, we are so excited we forget the rules!

As you all know, I have been entrusted to remount pictures which were mounted in 1986. I had always wondered what Olaf Opseth's house looked like. It was across the road from his brother, Gust's house. I knew it had been moved to town during the WWII years and remodeled. In scoping the photographs I found one in the background of a picture of whom I think is Ilene Rye and the Anderson's dog, Sport. It doesn't say that on the back of the picture but the dog is identified in a different picture. In the front of the subject is a road with horse's hoof prints!

We also know that Lloyd and Ella Anderson bought the Gust house and added on to it. I found a picture of the house in the remodeling stage!

I spent time with high school friends recently. We were at the house of one of the mother's. The mother is in an assisted living situation and the daughter had come home to spend time with her mother and while there, went through some pictures. Another member of the coffee clutch was a cousin. After the coffee was all gone and other of us left, the two cousins were looking over photographs. Joy was taking them home to scan them because she didn't have those pictures. History preserved.

Another thing that I noticed was group photographs. Lots and lots of huge groups. Although this is not my preference, with the technology of today, we can enlarge those pictures to find out just was is going on, who is in the photo, and other mysteries not considered on the day it was taken.

There are also mini groups. First child gets solo pictures, second child is photographed with the first, and so on. Many of the pictures Ella Rye Anderson Steinhauer took tell a story. Kudos to her, she has given all of us an opportunity to see facial expressions even if most of the pictures are posed. I am especially please to see a family photo with everyone in it! Again, Kudos to her!

Although we fuss that photos aren't exactly what we hoped; we are grateful for what we have. Again, I say, I would like to jump into the picture and be part of the day. Then, I could share the 'whole ball of wax'.

Now, let me ask you this; what will your photos show the next generation? Without a time stamp will the future generations be able to say, "Oh, that is the orange, avocado, and brown of the seventies." Will they ask what is a shag rug? "Why is grandma wearing those tight pants and high black boots?" "Didn't grandpa ever wear a tie OR why did grandpa always wear a tie?" My own children saw me in a hair piece and wondered when my hair was THAT long. Will they even consider that many of the clothes many have been made? What will they question? Think about it. I am not asking you to write an essay about every picture. After all that would be scrap booking.

But could you and would you, take 25 early pictures of yourself and write 25 words or less? Who, what, where, when, and why? Yes, I know it is a grueling process because you have to go back in your mind, back in that time, and write about it as you remember it. My goal was to write 50 stories about my brother Greg. I did 48. It turned out to be closure for me. Try amazing yourself, you are worth it.

Can one say, "Oh, this is black and white so it must have been taken before...." Think about black and white as a cheaper method of photo processing. The albums contain pictures into the late 60's in black and white. Now we have an option to finish a digital picture that way as well as sepia to make them look old!

And for those of you who wonder how I am doing on the remounting, the pictures are done and a table of Context is made. Although they may be ready to box, another idea came to me. Wouldn't it be fun to have a picture of all the grand children of Lloyd and Ella and try to guess who everyone is? Could you get early pictures of your grand children together?

And as Rachel titled her speech for high school graduation, "Life is Like a Roll of Film".

Joy to all

e