Thursday, March 09, 2006

A PHOTO THAT WASN'T A POTENTIAL ART STATEMENT





I was just browsing various scrapper's blogs (as you do) and I saw Katrina's latest entry. It was a layout she'd done using some simple photos of her kids playing at Orana Park a few years ago. It got me thinking...

... Maybe we should challenge ourselves to go back and use some of those photos from a few years ago. The photos we took before we were scrappers. The photos we took to remind ourselves of a great day out. The photos that were never destined to be part of great works of art. The photos that weren't glamour shots. The photos that weren't taken with the aim of getting published. Back to basics. Maybe?

Here's one of those photos I dug out -

this would never win any awards and certainly hasn't made it to a scrapbook page but when I look at it I remember an awesome day. We were driving up to Palmerston North to visit my sister and her family (as we do often). As Elliot usually throws up about half an hour after leaving home we decided to stop at Pukerua Bay for some fresh air. We ended up climbing over all the rock pools for half an hour. It was a gorgeous day. Elliot found a crab. And picked it up. His first crab. We were so pleased that we'd slowed down and stopped instead of racing to get to Palmy as quickly as we could. The kids loved it and so did we (didn't love Darryn's all yellow attire, though - what was that?).

But the thing is this photo brings back such warm memories that it doesn't need to be published for me to enjoy it. It's just a photo of my family having a great time. That's why I scrap. I will scrap it and write about how I felt when I took it. It's about the journey.

10 comments:

Lara said...

Love your blog journaling Mel - great to refelct on - must say I did notice the yellow gears pretty quickly!

Anonymous said...

this is a great idea. i'll take your challenge! i have a lifetime of these sort of photos.
suz

Anonymous said...

Laughing out loud at the yellow (but only when you mentioned it!!) - Yay for scrapping for stories and memories. I always like to tell my story to explain the significance of seemingly insignificant photos ... isn't that what it's all about. Sharing the story ... sharing the personal 'bigness'.

Anonymous said...

I love that photo Mel. I have a whole pile of pics that mean lots to me and aren't the "perfect" shot. Come to think of it we still take lots of pics like that. I need to educate DH in scrapping pics a bit better.

Ali said...

Hear hear - so what if your lovely husband wants to look like a banana Lol!

Rach H said...

HI Mel
well here i am saying 'hello'.
You know I once brought something off you on trade me. I clicked when you said you ran Tuatara.
You know what you just said on your blog about your photos - you hit the nail on the head!!!! Thats what its all about!!!
So please do share this moment on a LO with us soon.
And NO I could never scrapbook while in a bad mood!!! To disturbing for the creative mind!!!
Rach

dallas said...

Unfortunately for my eldest daughter, alot of her photos are bad! But I'm scrapping them all the same, loads of journalling for her to have those memories!
(the yellow is classy huh?!)

Donna said...

Well said, Mel! The journaling you have now recorded on your blog just needs to be transferred to your LO and the memory is preserved!

Lara said...

great banner!

Anonymous said...

Mel you are right, we all have photos like that and sometimes you just have to work with what you've got! Sometimes its the non-posing pics that mean the most. Its true scrapping is fun, an art, a creative outlet and we all get addicted to buying the products, but at the end of the day, what its really all about it creating that special momento for our loved ones! I'm going to get a blogging page soon, already I can see I'll be hooked!! :)