Family photos

Tiddlywinks

Just wanted to share something... my mum died a few weeks ago and I have been sorting through her things.

Mum loved to take photos and took her camera everywhere - we used to groan and try to avoid getting into the pictures. Now, looking at all those photos of the silly get-togethers, the normal everyday stuff, the funny faces and the happy times, I realise how right she was to capture those moments forever.

There were so many times where we'd had fun that I'd forgotten about and the photos were a great way of revisiting the memories.

So, just wanted to say - take a snap of the normal stuff sometimes as it's great to look back and have your memories revived.

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Oh, and remember to write the names of the people in the pictures (on the back or in an album) so that in years to come the family members know who they are looking at.

moneypuddle

Nice post tidgy. I'm really sorry for your loss but glad you have found some comfort in the photos

victory

I am sorry for your loss. The names and dates on the back of photos they used to always do that in the old days, black and white photos, turn them over and the info was always there, people do not do that so much now, that and having them on disc rather than in hand has changed, shame.

Tiddlywinks

moneypuddle wrote: »

Nice post tidgy. I'm really sorry for your loss but glad you have found some comfort in the photos

The thing for us was that mum got ill and then died within such a short time that, had we not had many photos of her, we would not have had any time to take some photo momentoes.

I thought I'd post here after a friend told me that her family only seemed to have photos from weddings, baptisms, school photos or drunken shots taken for Face Book... whereas mum travelling around with her camera has given us a bit of a potted family history which has been great for us as a family.

Just wanted to share and encourage everyone to get snapping.

delain

Sorry for your loss x x

I am always snapping and I get my photos printed online, I'm with your mum on that one! I love looking at my photos from when my rabble were smaller and it wasn't that long ago.

Tiddlywinks

Just found some more stacks of photos...

Mum took one of her birthday cake from 16 years ago - Why? Well, my OH had recently returned from overseas and hadn't seen her (his MIL) for 3 months. He jokingly offered to make her a cake and spent a fortune on baking and burning a couple before he ran out of time and had to go with his final semi burnt offering. He carved off the dodgy bits and covered the cake in frosting and to hide the uneven top he used some glazed fruit - to be honest, it was a bit of a mess and something we'd all laughed about and then forgotten.

Fast forward to now and she has a picture of it proudly mounted in an album - when I showed my OH, he still looked embarrassed.

There are also loads of her cat (who's now an oldie with a big belly) and living with us - it's amazing to see her as a youngster again - I'd forgotten she once had a waistline :rotfl:.

The best ones are of the silly little things that we'd all forgotten though - the fancy dress do's, kids with arms in a plaster cast or holding up a finger with a plaster on it.

Some just have the kids when they visited holding up signs with messages on - they're good fun.

And my favourite so far.... my little cousin came to visit and disappeared for a while. We found him with his head down the loo using the toilet brush on his hair - mum took a photo of course.... he's now 33yo but he will be getting that picture as his next birthday pressie .

Peater

Sorry for your loss.

At the back-end of last year, i decided to convert all of my Father's/Grandfather's slide collection to a digital format so they were not lost (alot had sucummed to mould etc due to bad storage).

Fabulous set of pictures, i presented the final disc to my dad and we just sat there with them running on the TV for hours while he told us the stories behind them.

-My grandfather took him and my aunt on a roadtrip to India (via Europe and then the 'stans) to visit my Great Aunt who was a nurse working there. They went in a VW campervan and some of the pictures are just wonderful. A trip you would'nt contemplate nowadays.

hightara

im glad you have all the wonderful photos tiddywinks,

my husband and others used to refuse to get their photos taken, i now remind them that i want the photos for the kids to have when we are not here.

somehow takes the embarassment out of it, and now they will participate.

so sorry to hear about your mum.

Tiddlywinks

hightara wrote: »

my husband and others used to refuse to get their photos taken, i now remind them that i want the photos for the kids to have when we are not here.

This it the thing, we all used to grumble about her with her camera; it's only now that I realise just how much of our busy lives we forget and I'm glad she took the photos as a reminder. Plus they will be great for the kids to look at in years to come - it's good for them to know that the wrinklies used to be young once upon a time .

Life moves so quickly and we change subtly every day - those photos have just reminded me about all the stuff we managed to cram in and never really thought about. Even the ordinary stuff is now great to look back on.

pelirocco

I will second writing on the back , when my MIL died we found louds of photos that we didnt have a clue where , when or even who

tea_lover

That's such a lovely post, and so true. Am really sorry for your loss, and I hope the photos and memories will be a great comfort to you all.

My Nan used to take really bad polaroid shots of everyone, only she never got anyone's head in. I love looking at those old, yellowed photos of people from the neck down now - reminds me of my beloved Nan and what fun we used to have.