Author: admin

Legacy noun, plural leg·a·cies.
Law. a gift of property, especially personal property, as money, by will; a bequest.
anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor:
the legacy of ancient Rome.

Dictionary.com

Photographic Legacy

Maybe 25 years ago my mother went through hundreds of Fox Photo and drug store photo packets and made albums for each of her five children. (For my younger audience, we used to take photos on film. Film came in rolls of 12, 24 or 36 frames. Once you finished a roll, you had to take it to the store. They sent it in and sometime later, you paid for and picked up your prints.) It was a labor of love and I’m sure she worked on the project for several months. I remember her loving eyes when she handed me the album. It contained all her favorite memories of my childhood. I look pretty excited to be taking a bath, don’t I?

I think I’ll take a few moments to flip through the album before I put it back in storage where someone will find this photographic legacy sometime after I go through the “transition”.

The Digital Age

I am a little concerned that now in the digital age many of these type of memories will be lost because all one’s photographs may be stored on a phone or in the cloud. What happens if the phone is lost or the link and the password to cloud files is not available? Good-bye memories.

Further more, cell phone photos have their limits as far as printing depending on the camera settings. Last summer a close friend of ours went through tragedy of losing their 37 year old daughter to covid. There must have been a couple hundred family and friends at the memorial and the chapel was full of flowers and photo boards displayed on easels. The one thing that struck me was the only frame worthy professional photograph was her wedding photo taken several years earlier. For the most part, the rest of the photos were pixilated snap shots printed on some kiosk in a drug store.

Closer to home, Patty’s brother died suddenly 3 years ago. Needless to say, we were devastated. As we went through the process we couldn’t find any recent photos of Mark that were print and frame worthy. Or to state it another way, legacy.

The Story of You

My point is simple. We all will “transition” at a point in time, and our legacy might include more than cash and property. Mine will include my library, my journals and my printed work. I am doubtful that anyone will want to dig through my 30,000 images stored on my computer in hopes of finding a keepsake.

Closing Thought

My closing thought today is, “If legacy matters to you, you might consider occasionally having a professional photograph made of you, your family and the people (friends) you love. Have the prints made and frame the ones you really like. A printed photograph can be enjoyed in the present and tells the story of you in the future”.

Taking my own advice, when Patty and I entertained long time friends over the weekend, we went through the trouble to make a photo. It’s my pleasure to share it with you.

Thanks for dropping by.

Your friend,
Mike

Ps. Here’s a link to my products and services.