We all love pictures! I don't believe I've ever met anyone who didn't like them. They connect us to the past as a visual documentation of events, people and / or places. Some can be pleasant or laughable. Others can be difficult and painful. Those, we tuck away, as painful as they are, sometimes we just aren't ready to face them yet.
Personally, I absolutely love pictures. And yes, I've had to tuck away a few over the years. My mom left us boxes of pictures she had collected over the years. Some she took, some she got from family, some she inherited from her mom, Zadie, when she passed. Mom loved to take pictures and we used to kid her about always breaking out the camera at the drop of a hat. Any event or occasion and you can be sure, if mom was there, she was documenting it with a camera.
No one's kidding her now!
It's because of mom that we have so much as we do and I have been trying to scan them all in. Admittedly, my diligence has tapered off significantly and I'm behind (that means I got lazy). I scan each one in at a high resolution. Usually much higher than what is recommended. If there's any writing on the back, that is scanned the same way and the file names have the addendum of "Front" and "Back" (pretty clever, hunh?).
I do this for a few reasons. First, pictures can tell you so much if you know what you're looking for. In fact, there's books, magazine articles, and entire groups of people that are dedicated to being Photo Detectives. So I scan at a high resolution so that we can blow them up if we need to.
Second, what if the photo really means something to someone? Their mother or father? An aunt or uncle they were especially close to? A house they grew up in? It's not my place to evaluate for my family, but if it means something to someone, then I've provided them with the best copy that I can.
Third, I will not upload a picture of a picture (as if I took it with my cell phone) unless it's all I have. They usually aren't very good, the image is warped and there's glare. Some can be taken that looks as good as a scan. Some aren't. But sometimes, something is better than nothing. I've gotten a few and I am grateful for whatever I get. As I said, I just want to be able to provide US with great copies that will last not only our lifetime, but so that we can show our kids and beyond.
And lastly, with such copies, you can download them to your thumb drive (or whatever is your choice), and take them to Walgreens, Walmart wherever you prefer and get prints made. Additionally, you should not run into any issues if you want to get them enlarged. Some, you might even be able to get poster size! Obviously, you can download them to your computer and edit to your heart's content.
Now my mom's side apparently loved pictures. I wonder if that's tied into such a love for genealogy and family history on her side? My dad's side, not so much. I know what a lot of mom's ancestors look like and where they lived. But dad's side is such a mystery. I've been trying for years and have maybe gotten all of five pictures. It's the same with Samantha's (my wife's) side. She has much less than I do (talking about what I have from dad's side). So if any of you are reading this, share, share, share!!!
I will be loading a few pictures here to our site, but I do pay for an account on Flickr. It is my personal account and I've tried to organize, categorize and tag them so we can find them better but I don't have every tag I could have. I have 1,866 photos currently on my account but I have wedding and vacation pictures. Don't worry! I'm not making you look at them! Everything is in an album. Like "Henderson Album 1" or "Assorted Uncle Crawford Military Pictures."
You DO NOT have to pay for an account to view or to download. I am paying for everything. My own account so that I have a place to upload and share. Additionally, you don't have to download each picture individually. With a click, you can download the entire "Unknown Family From Henderson Ancestry" album. Then you can amaze your friends!???? Go here to see my Flickr account "William D. Vest III" (Pretty original, hunh?).
The pictures are private. You WILL have to sign up for a FREE account and click "Follow" next to my name. Lastly, send me a message telling me who you are. It's not like we have bank account information on there but still. Some of my personal pics are public, family pics are private. So once you are "following" me I still have to designate you as family before you can see or download anything.
Well that's it! I hope we can grow our photo library to incredible levels and meet family we thought were long gone! They never are though, because Bones Are Forever. (See what I did there? Damn I'm clever.)
Wm. D. Vest III