I just spent the last few days creating a photo album on Shutterfly. I am one of these people who prefers doing things the old fashioned way. Manual camera, photos printed at a shop, slid into photo albums by my own hands.
My husband gave me a digital camera for Christmas two years ago and I haven’t had film developed at a shop in ages.
In between caring for my family, I was like a Meth addict hiding out in our basement office cutting and pasting photos into the photo website. Just one more photo. Just one more page. Stealing moments to change the background, adjust the layout and all with a click of my mouse.
I am five years behind on photos. My almost 9 year old daughter has seven completed albums, all manually created, before digital and I discovered these websites that do everything for you. Page after page showing every outfit, milestone, facial expression, attitude, experience. My 6 year old son? He has one and a half finished albums.
I will be curious if my reaction is the same when I receive my newly created book in the mail. Will it have the same feel and smells of creating an album from printed out pictures using my own hands to slide them into their sleeves?
I could spend hours looking at photos. The faces of my children changing in a blink. The images all reminding me of past moments, one time experiences, all captured on film.
I may get hooked on this new way even though I am an old fashioned girl at heart who still doesn’t text and prefers a hand written letter to email and a phone call to FaceBook.
In the end, new methods or old, a picture is a story and I get so much out of watching the story unfold in print.
by J.G. McGlothern
Heartwriter's Blog 