A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words, Or Is It?

I am getting ready to publish another book and was looking through boxes of photographs for the ones I was hoping to use. Yes I said boxes. I have eight or nine photo albums, not including my wedding album, and the rest of my pictures are in plastic boxes. Some day I’ll get around to putting them in albums, or something better than just tossed in a box. I can also pretend I’m going to organize them, but probably not! If they get put in an album I’ll raise my arms in victory! However, the subject at hand is not organization, but identification.

Whoever said that a picture is worth a 1000 words did not anticipate boxes of photographs with nothing written on the back to identify where we are, or when we were there. Most of the time I could tell who it was of. Obviously I know my own children, though it would have been nice to know how old they were in the shot, instead of having to guess. I did run across a picture of a German shepherd that I have no idea who he is, or to whom he belongs. All I know is, he wasn’t mine.

Remember back to the days of film, which is why we have all these photos, Wal-Mart would offer double prints for the price of one. Great idea! The grandparents would love to have this picture! Perhaps, but probably not all 36 images on the roll! While looking through handfuls of snapshots I’m wondering if there wasn’t a mistake made, and Walmart actually printed quadruple pictures, or did we actually take four photos of our son and daughter singing the same verse, in the same song, in the same Christmas pageant? I swear I ran across a dozen images that were nearly identical! I could have culled through them and thrown the copies, and near copies away, but then what are my kids suppose to do when I die? This will make them wonder what craziness drove me to take so many pictures of exactly the same thing, and give them something to talk about. I’ll be sure to leave a note in the box, because you know that’s exactly where they are going to be, letting them know their dad was the one with the camera. Blame him!

But, it really wasn’t pictures of people that was the huge problem, it was the scenery pictures. With nothing written on the back, mountains are mountains unless they are extremely identifiable, like the Grand Teton, Half Dome, or Everest! A mountain meadow is a mountain meadow, and if you think they look different in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, France, or Italy, you would be wrong! It doesn’t end there. Beaches are just as bad. Now there is a little hint that comes with beaches. If the water is a blue-green you are probably looking at white sand in shallow water, so Florida, the Bahamas, or the Caribbean. If the water is dark blue it’s probably California, or Hawaii. Waves most likely indicate ocean, and flat probably a bay, or the Gulf. However, I caution everyone on the use of such words as always and never, because there are “always” exceptions to “every” rule and you could really be looking at anywhere in the world.

So, here I am with three boxes of “Where was that taken?”, and “When was that taken?”, along with “Why are there 25 pictures of my kids diving into their grandmother’s pool?”. Digital may help, but if my phone is any indication, probably not. I flipped through the other day and saw six pictures of my granddaughter sitting in the rocking chair we gave her for Christmas, and another four of my grandson reading a book. Which ones should I delete? None of them! They’re adorable! Now, to figure out how to add not a 1000 words, but perhaps 3…Who, when, and where.