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Not just any old photographs
05 November 2009
My wife, Chris, recently returned from a rushed trip to her home, London, England. Her mom, Frances, passed away on October 13th. There are so many things we think about and remember when a loved one dies. Painful memories, and the sadness of the past, thankfully get covered up by the joys of happy memories, and nothing can spark a memory better than an old photograph.
Our digital photography age has made printed pictures virtually obsolete. So, we should value old photographs even more because they’ve become so rare. Just think about Mathew Brady’s famous Civil War pictures capturing war as it actually happened.
Chris brought back with her hundreds of pictures, some from the 1920’s of family and friends, many of them gone but not forgotten: Pictures of her mom as a child in grade school, aunts and uncles on their wedding day, and cousins and old school friends. Most of the images were taken in a London before the horrors of World War II changed the scenery and many lives forever.
Proud faces, happy faces, serious faces, familiar and unfamiliar faces are all captured forever as only old photographs can.
We have pictures of our children, Karen and Leigh, taken with Grandma Frances. Some shots I don’t remember taking or seeing, but the intense look of pride on the Grandparents’ faces tells it all. New grandkids to continue the families started so long ago in a country we (in America) had only seen in movies, joined together when Chris & I married in December 1968.
So out of a sad occasion came a chance to look at a way of life and the proud relatives who lived in a London long ago. Their lives and ours inexorably tied together through extraordinary pictures. They live again and share their experiences with us today.
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