Rant #1,053: Old Photos

They say that photos speak 1,000 words, and I think old photos--photos that were taken years ago--can speak even more.

Sure, the digital age has made picture taking into the easiest thing next to buttering bread, but seeing those old photographs again--those taken with old Kodak and Polaroid cameras--really is something else.

You see pictures of the moment, pictures that were taken to be preserved.

I mean, with digital cameras, you can take a picture, see it immediately, and if you don't like it, it is gone in an instant.

But with those old cameras, you were pretty much stuck with that you had, so the picture taker took extra care in taking photos, because the only way to get rid of them was to throw them in the garbage once they got developed.

And today, you can take those old photos and digitize them too, keep them for posterity on your computer or elsewhere simply by scanning them.

I have done that with dozens of photos from years gone by. It is a fun exercise, and really, the only way to go to preserve old photos, and preserve them for the next generation, kids like mine who don't know from actual paper photos.

And I think that that is important.

Preserving the past is extremely important. Kids need to know where they came from. Yes, they know their parents, but they need to know that their families did not start with their mom and dad. There are grandparents, uncles, aunts, and others who helped shape them, whether they know it or not.

And the photos of friends are very important too. Sure, you are not related to these people by blood, but it shows your personal growing up phases, and to your kids, it shows that you always weren't a mommy or daddy.

You were actually a kid too!

So I treasure those old photos, some of which I have put up in this Rant.

They mean the world to me, and it is just so easy to keep these photos today, that if you haven't done it yet, buy a cheap scanner--I have found the cheaper, the easier to use and the better--and get it done!

You will not regret it one bit.