Living in a Digital World

And I Am A Digital Boy

Recently, while cleaning out some old digital folders, I came across this series of photos I took of Little Bean. This was summer of 2018 so she’d be just about 3 1/2 here.

The shot in the upper right we have framed and on a wall. I had forgotten, though, that I took a whole series. Every one of them is gorgeous. But then, I’m hardly objective when it comes to her.

This isn’t a core memory for her, of course - this bright, warm sunny day at our old house when the two of us walked down to the city water park for a picnic. She remembers the water park, but not this particular day.

I remember though. Which is why it surprised me when I re-discovered that there is a whole series of these photos.

My mom was the photographer in our family when I was growing up. By the standards of the day - using her hand crank Brownie camera - she took A LOT of pictures of me. And she had good eye as well. You had to back then, because unlike today, you didn’t get to see the pictures until you developed them weeks or months later.

Can you imagine? So strange that these days we can just keep shooting and shooting until we get the shot we want.

Anyway, I became curious and went into my general folder of pictures I took of Uma over the years. There are thousands. I ordered them by Date Created and just spent some time browsing chronologically. What a trip down memory lane.

It also made me realize that I have so much, and it’s mainly so unorganized, that I really ought to spend some time creating folders. By event? Year? Who knows, I’ll have to give it some thought.

There’s value in these records of course. Like I do these days, there may come a time when my daughter will want to look back on her days growing up. Unlike me, however, she may have far too much to look at!

How about you all? In these days of instant images, how do you manage to keep track of or order your photos? Do you snap away and then delete? Do you save everything? Tell me about your system?

Back then, you had to get the picture right the first time!