Shutter bugs/ photographers...what do you do with your photos?
@Perspectives (7131)
Canada
January 17, 2008 1:20am CST
As some of you already know David and I had to put our beloved dog Tasha down on Tuesday of this week. Thank you to all who responded offering your condolences and sharing your touching stories with me.
I have been feeling really sentimental and posting pictures of her with some of my responses to the discussions on her passing. I also pulled out our pet photograph albums and have been tearing up while looking through them and remembering the good times we've had with the ones we've loved...and had to let go. I have included one example of what I do with our photographs. This one a mini-memorial of the two dogs Tasha and Meishka who shared most of our married life. With them Tasha gone it is the end of an era. We have one other dog and five cats...but haven't them nearly as long as these two dogs. Having their photos right beside where I work is a way of keeping their memory alive. That is why I love photos...they take us back to memorable events and special times with special people. Encapsulated moments in time is why I am a committed shutter bug...clicking away day by day.
That led me to wondering what all you shutterbugs out there do with your photographs...before and after digital photography started to be the rage. When David and I used film instead of digital I was always diligent about developing the pictures and scrap-booking photos right away so they didn't accumulate.
Thankfully I have an abundance of photos and albums to commemorate the many passages in family life, and David's and my journey together with our pets. So scrap booking is one thing I do with my photos. I also group photos together throughout our house. I have a grouping of family and loved ones on a shelf in my office and desk.
A friend of mine is a Creative Memories consultant and has just introduced me to their software and now my scrap booking will be moved to my computer where I have stored thousands of photos and categorized them for easy reference. I am glad I did too because I enjoy adding photos to discussions and responses here.
So all you fellow photo snappers out there care to let me know what you are doing with your photos? Do you have them stored in boxes...on your computer...in albums? Do you scrapbook them into special books with memorabilia the way I do? Just another curiosity of mine that I will appreciate you satisfying if you'd care to. For those who are not shutterbugs I am curious about that too...is there a reason you do not take photos...is it just something you are not interested in? Too much work to organize? I am always interested in the diversity of answers and of course perspectives you all provide.
Thanks in advance,
Raia
2 people like this
11 responses
@nurrynoo (72)
• New Zealand
17 Jan 08
Hiya,
As you know I have put my more recent photos on as my screen saver... I'm still adding more every day!
I have always thought photos are the best thing ever. From when my son was born until about two years later when my camera broke I had filled 4 albums full, and 6 boxes full of photos. I keep them all, even the not so good pictures. That was before my digital camera, when i actually had to go and get my film developed.
I actually had a friend once who said they didn't see the point of photos because thats just a small moment in time. I disagreed and said that its a reminder of things that I probably wouldn't remember otherwise.
My favourite photo is of my son asllep in the corner...he had got in trouble and was standing in the corner at 2 years old and had fallen asleep. So very cute!!
1 person likes this
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
17 Jan 08
Hi again...
Thanks for your addition and mirroring my views about photographs. I love them too and wholeheartedly agree with your viewpoint that they are a reminder of things that might otherwise be forgotten.
The photo of your son sounds so enchanting...do you have it on your site so I could take a peek...or you could add it here and I'd be sure to give it a plus and comment as I do with all who include photos in their responses....because I am very visual and luv, luv, luv seeing pictures!
Cheers,
Raia
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
19 Jan 08
Hello...thanks for getting back and letting me know about your 'special book.' Are you planning to post the photo here...or on your site. If so, please let me know where and I will be there.
I am a kind of photo-fanatic...probably because my creative brain is very visual...and my writer's brain is always interested in story behind the image. I am fortunate to have a chance to do reporting in within my other journalistic endeavors...love to get the shot...and get the scoop on it. (smiles.)
Yesterday I finally got around to playing with a birthday gift from a friend who does Creative Memories. Their memory manager software is soooooo great! I worked until three in the morning sorting, cropping and enhancing some of the thousands of photos I have...and I am hooked into a new level of scrap booking. My bulky books will be a thing of the past. Good thing I have so many albums that we were running of out bookshelf space.
Anyway...let me know about your son's photo...it sounds really cute!
Raia
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
18 Jan 08
I scrap them most of them anyway...also use the Movie maker to put a slide show together with music and give as gifts. This year for christmas I made a video for my brother and sisters, a succession of pictures as we grew up with each house we lived in etc. Pictures of mom and dad and sit it to John Denvers...For you! We all cried. It's an easy program. I also did one for my nephew's little girl...her first year with two seperate video's in the slide show...anyway......I love having pictures....you can also use some of your very good ones for card fronts. Sorry about your losing your old friend! I had mine for 13 years....the first thing my sister did was to make me a scrapbook of all his pictures!
1 person likes this
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
19 Jan 08
My neice is a Creative Memories consultant! And my sister did those books for her friends for Christmas and they just loved them! Sounds like you get into the photos too! I did one of my granddaughter....the slide show with music and she has to watch the Ali movie everytime she is here...then the baby Lily one! Thanks for replying! Have fun with your photos!
1 person likes this
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
20 Jan 08
You are welcome Jillhill...I strive for a response for every response on my site. The odd time I miss one or two...but I value those who come back for additional chats until the thread is done and we move onto something else. This approach often does not leave as much time as i would like to visit the sites of those who contribute here..but we can only so do much right and still have a life right?
I am interested in the Movie Maker slide show program you use...where did you purchase it and is it complicated to learn? I'd love to advance into PhotoShop...but I have heard this is quite a learning curve with it.
Good to know that your have a pal who can show you the Memory Manager and Story Book software...I am impressed with both of them and how user friendly they are.
Good to know that the recipients of the books loved them...great creative satisfaction to put them together and then gift them. Things like that are a lifelong treasure and a gift that keeps on giving!
Hope to connect again soon...in the meantime...best regards,
Raia
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
19 Jan 08
Hi Jillhill...and thanks for your condolences. Anyone who has had pets and lost them can relate..and 13 years is a long time to have a furry friend...and then have to say goodbye.
I appreciate hearing about what you are doing with your photos and creating gifts that keep on giving. My hubby made a photo slide show with music celebrating my mother's life when she passed away. We both have Celtic roots and we had a gathering and projected his handiwork on a larger screen. Everyone who loved her...loved it and it was a great send off for my mother who didn't want us to grieve her loss but in true Irish tradition wanted to remember the good times and remember that her spirit was free.
My friend recently gave me a program called Memory Manager from Creative memories and last night I started playing with in until three this morning and I absolutely love it. You can crop, enhance, alter lighting, categorize, label and share photos from vault to vault and folder to folder. There is a storytelling section, labeling date filing...and an ability to pick up digital files from the computer or scanner directly. Once the photos are cropped and improved they can be filed, e-mailed or created into digital scrapbooks that can be sent to Creative Memories and they will print hard cover books. I love it! If you are interested you could check out their site or see if there is a consultant in your area...sounds right up your ally.
Fun sharing ideas...and happy movie making!
Raia
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
17 Jan 08
well I did have some in album and some still are but also have them in totes and drawers and in my desk and every where eelse have some on cds for if puter crashes I can put them back
I just bought a travel disk 4GB that I plan on putting them on as soon as I put them back in the puter and I also have to look ans scan a whole bunches of pics we used film till I just got a digital and I now haev some on it that need to up load on putter.
1 person likes this
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
19 Jan 08
That sounds great...and I look forward to sending more photos back and forth. The friend who hosted the gathering for my birthday is a Creative Memories consultant and gifted me their Memory Manager software for my birthday. I stayed up to three this morning playing with it. You can cut, crop, alter the lighting and focus, remove red eye...and organize all photos into folders..and tell a story as you go. I have thousands of photos and want to scan many that we have of family and pets on when we were using film. It is going to be great fun...and then after they are all organized there is software to make digital scrapbooks...and books that can be created to give to others on special occasions. You just lay them out and send the scrapbook to Creative Memories and you pay them to print the book...and they send it by mail upon completion. I love it!
I am planning to have a Mylot community folder and will have it to view so I can feel more connected to those within our growing soul community here.
So David and I are in a better place...and looking forward to my friend arriving tomorrow...but I will be here between visiting with her. So snap away...and I look forward to seeing your creative self-expression my shutter bug pal!
Raia
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
20 Jan 08
Playing with what digital cameras can do is great fun. This software program my girl friend gave me is sooooooo kewl. You can crop photos, enhance the quality...alter the lighting...I am having a ball with it! I have been doing a lot with photos of Tasha...and seeing her and remembering what we shared makes me both happy and sad...but definitely things are getting easier and having my pal with us today...and for the next week and a half will help a lot.
Take care...snap away...and let us see what you are doing...I will look forward to that!
Raia
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
18 Jan 08
In 2007... I scanned all my best photos from my photo albums... going back to 1970... and now I have them on my computer.
I had some motivation to do this. I wanted to email them to my family in France.
These days I use a digital camera and keep everything on my computer. I must remember to back them up on a CD. lol
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
19 Jan 08
Hi...wow scanning all of them from photo albums...that thought is absolutely overwhelming to me being that I have sooooo many photo scrapbooks from my family of origin and for every stage of life David and I have experienced in the seventeen plus years we've been together. However, I do plan to do that with photos of my Mom and Dad because now they are both gone and all my current photos are on my computer and backed up. David is really great at that end of things...not me though so I am glad he is so huge on backing EVERYTHING up. We each have our strengths...
I was given a great software program by a friend who is a Creative Memories consultant and it is going to make my shutter bug photo taking so much easier to manage now. I was busy until three AM this morning playing with it and beginning to create files, crop, enhance and play around with the many, many photos I have stored in my computer.
We all have our hobbies and passions...and now digital scrap booking has been added to my list. I love the fact that I won't have to find storage for the many, many albums we have.
So long for now,
Raia
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
20 Jan 08
Good idea...my hubby is assisting me in getting into more digitized ways of handling the multitude of photos this shutter bug takes.
Thanks for dropping by again Remo!
Raia
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
17 Jan 08
I have had my own way of making memorial photos of my past cats. Now naturally I haven't done this with all my past babies yet, but what I do is "recycle" wooden plaques--the kind you might get that have a cute saying or print on them and that you can hang up---when they have gotten "ratty" and discolored from age, I soak off the old print, then place one of my photos of one of my cats, and paint on the plaque the time that cat shared their life with me...and have those plaques hanging all around the place
I'm still a film photographer...and have mainly used slide film. I have all my slides completely catagorized into subjects and even further divided...say Volume I of Flowers is all the flowers of the Asteraceae family like daisies, marigolds, etc. I have about eight volumes of just flower pictures alone and all my slides are kept in archival slide pages in archival slide binders--and believe it or not, each and every slide has it's own ID number..that's how I know I have 21,049 sldes..LOL--I'm in the process of scanning many of my photos (STILL) and transferring them into the digitized format--so every photo that you see of mine that I post here are the digitized versions of the original slide.
In away, I'm glad that I stuck to the slide film format over the years as they are so much more "compact"...yeesh, can you imagine having 21,049 Print images around and all the scrapbooks I would need??
I do however have many of my 8x10 black and white prints stored in the same kind of binders with pages large enough to hold the prints in them..and yes, have those catogorized as well--I haven't printed up all my black and white images...I ONLY have about 15,000 images there..LOL
As far as my print photos prior to when I got my 35mm camera in 1977 and of which, yes still have and use (good old reliable Nikon)...there really aren't that many...back before then I was relying on my mom's old Kodak brownie camera...LOL...since there just aren't that many photos, I've kept them in boxes, but maybe one day will eventually get around to scrapbooking them
1 person likes this
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
19 Jan 08
I will check it out there...not to worry..hiccups, glitches and computer burps are all part of what they are...and what they do!
Raia
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
17 Jan 08
I have alway been a bit of a shutterbug now with computers and digital cameras I am really hooked. I love taking pictures of my pets, including Lizzie the lizard, the garden gecko who took up residence in my home for a few months, ome of my friends may remember dicussions I posted on her. I really enjoy also taking nature photos of my plants, the sky which has so many beautiful changing colors, from rainbows to storms. I have then all in albums in my coputer and also have burned them to CDs. I enjoy printing them with various borders and settings. Here is my latest "fun" photo of a newspaper clipping of me when I was 19 years old. I figured it was old enough to be in a museum..LOL
1 person likes this
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
19 Jan 08
I really enjoyed seeing what you did with this photo...very creative. Are you using photoshop...or some other program to create the look you did. My girlfriend is a Creative Memories consultant and gave me their Memory Manager software for my birthday..and I played with it until the wee small hours this morning. It helped my grieve process to be able to create files for Tasha and Meishka and crop, highlight and improve the quality of the photos. Once I master that I will move into their Story Teller software and create digital scrap books.
Whatever you are using...you are doing a good job and I appreciate your sharing your creative expertise.
Thanks...and chat soon.
Raia
@jeweledbluerose (3061)
• United States
17 Jan 08
Right now I am working on creating a digital scrapbook of all the pictures I have stored on my computer and will soon be scanning the others I have, so I can finish up the scrap book I am making. It's been hard though, cause have a lot of memories in the pictures I have, and quite a few the people in the pictures have long since passed away. So I just take it slowly, so I'm not opening to many old wounds all at once.
@maddysmommy (16230)
• United States
17 Jan 08
Sorry to hear about your dog Tasha, Raia, I have been away from mylot for a few days and have only just come across your discussion.
I have tons of photos of my family and friends and keep most of them online on our computer or on disks. I print a few out and put them on our walls or display them in a album. I wouldn't mind getting into scrapbooking but at the moment I don't have much spare time to give it a try.
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
19 Jan 08
Thank you for your condolences...there have been many...and some really teary eyed responses...that triggered more of mine. However, the discussion was very, very uplifting on another level...for the love and support David and I received...plus the amazing reminder that love, care and bonding comes in many forms...from people and animals and love is love...what a message that is to share with each other!
Now onto your photos...do I have a program to make your life easier. My girl friend is a Creative Memories consultant and gifted me their software program called Memory Manager. Yesterday was the first time I had to play with it..and it is very user friendly and as I started creating folder for my thousands of pictures it was great to be able to go over all the special times we shared with Tasha. You can cut, crop and improve the lighting and focus of photos, remove rede eye...tell stories with the photos...and I am so glad because we were running out of room for the countless photo scrapbooks I have made over the seventeen plus years David and I have been together. This has opened up a whole new world for me...so if there is a Creative Memories consultant in your area you might want to to check it out as your time frees up...or just go on line if you are interested.
Anyway good chatting again...thanks for your support.
Raia
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
4 May 08
I used to use a 35MM and still have a handful of undeveloped rolls that I need to take up. Most of the pics from that time are in photo albums that I like to take out and wander back in time.
With my digi everything is stored on my pc and I simply email them to who I want and burn them to disc which then goes into the fire safe. I have two pics of my Petey...one on my desk and one next to my bed. I love being able to talk to him and share things through the day with him.
**AT PEACE WITHIN**
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