When the Pope posted a selfie – self-portrait – a lot of
people were stunned. Thankfully, he didn’t make a silly face. I must admit,
when I see some of the silly and strange selfies my teenage granddaughters post
on line I’m puzzled and confused. Why would you want your friends and all those
Facebook people to see you with your tongue sticking out? Okay, I get it. They
do it because they can and it becomes a competition to see who can post the
silliest pictures.
I’m post pictures on Facebook too. It’s fun to share pictures of me with my grandchildren, book signings, and other events in my life. But eventually, you reach a point where the pictures must be culled down. Many that were funny or important at the time seem a waste of space a month or so later. How many pictures do I really need of my blooming azaleas? They bloom every year after all.
The best part of selfies is that you are in them. Those are the ones friends and family will want to keep. When my father died, my brother and I had to dispose of his belongings. Our dad loved to take pictures. He had several cameras and hundreds of albums filled with snap shots. He did a fair amount of traveling and he took pictures of everything. Literally.
When we
started going through the pictures we made an interesting discovery. Of the
thousands of pictures he’d taken over the years, we would only be keeping a
small fraction. Why? Because he wasn’t in most of them. We only wanted to keep
pictures of our dad. We found a few of him standing in front of the dude ranch
he visited. One of him on a horse. A few of him beside a sign declaring his
location. Unfortunately most of the pictures he took were of trees, mountains,
prairies, sunrises and sunsets, rivers and snow scenes. Are you seeing a
pattern here? We ended up tossing out all his pictures. The scenery had no
value to us. Only his image.
I came home and started sorting through my own collection of pictures. I found the same problem. Too many pictures of flowers, the Christmas tree at various angles, and my kids playing ball, but from such a distance that you couldn’t distinguish one boy from the other.
So the next time you’re on vacation, make sure you take enough pictures with you as the center piece. Those pix of the Washington monument are fine for your own memory, but unless you’re in the photo your kids won’t keep them. Give your family memories and pictures they will want to keep. Mom and dad at Disney world, Grandma and Grandpa in front of the Grand Canyon, brother and wife at Mardi Gras.
Lorraine
Beatty is a multi-published, bestselling author born and raised in Columbus,
Ohio. She and husband Joe have two grown sons and five grandchildren. Lorraine
started writing in Junior High and has written for trade books, newspapers, and
company newsletters. She is a member of RWA, ACFW and is a charter member, and
past President of Magnolia State Romance Writers. Away from writing she sings
in her church choir, loves to garden, spend time with her grandchildren, and
travel. I love to hear from my readers. Visit her at lorrainebeatty.com
http://www.amazon.com/Plantation-Christmas-Weddings-Four--ebook/dp/B00E63N5R2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379861271&sr=1-1&keywords=plantation+christmas+weddings
I’m post pictures on Facebook too. It’s fun to share pictures of me with my grandchildren, book signings, and other events in my life. But eventually, you reach a point where the pictures must be culled down. Many that were funny or important at the time seem a waste of space a month or so later. How many pictures do I really need of my blooming azaleas? They bloom every year after all.
The best part of selfies is that you are in them. Those are the ones friends and family will want to keep. When my father died, my brother and I had to dispose of his belongings. Our dad loved to take pictures. He had several cameras and hundreds of albums filled with snap shots. He did a fair amount of traveling and he took pictures of everything. Literally.
When we
started going through the pictures we made an interesting discovery. Of the
thousands of pictures he’d taken over the years, we would only be keeping a
small fraction. Why? Because he wasn’t in most of them. We only wanted to keep
pictures of our dad. We found a few of him standing in front of the dude ranch
he visited. One of him on a horse. A few of him beside a sign declaring his
location. Unfortunately most of the pictures he took were of trees, mountains,
prairies, sunrises and sunsets, rivers and snow scenes. Are you seeing a
pattern here? We ended up tossing out all his pictures. The scenery had no
value to us. Only his image.I came home and started sorting through my own collection of pictures. I found the same problem. Too many pictures of flowers, the Christmas tree at various angles, and my kids playing ball, but from such a distance that you couldn’t distinguish one boy from the other.
So the next time you’re on vacation, make sure you take enough pictures with you as the center piece. Those pix of the Washington monument are fine for your own memory, but unless you’re in the photo your kids won’t keep them. Give your family memories and pictures they will want to keep. Mom and dad at Disney world, Grandma and Grandpa in front of the Grand Canyon, brother and wife at Mardi Gras.
They’ll thank you for it.
http://www.amazon.com/Plantation-Christmas-Weddings-Four--ebook/dp/B00E63N5R2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379861271&sr=1-1&keywords=plantation+christmas+weddings
1 comment:
Good advice! I've never thought of it like that, altho I do take a fair amount of pics of family; just not myself. lol
I'll try to remember this tho.
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