Why Scrapbooking Matters - Part 2

So many of our photos have such fun stories to go with them. I encourage you to make story telling every bit as important as photography when it comes to scrapbooking. We can put photos into an album with the name of the person and the date of the event on the back. But, is that enough? We can glue the photos on cardstock and embellish them like crazy and not have enough room for much journaling - but even that may not be good enough.

For instance - the photo to the left looks like a boy just putting on a shirt. And, in 25 years, that boy may not remember exactly where he was at the time. In 50 years, no one will know that there's more than meets the eye in this photo. They will just see a boy putting on a shirt. They may not even be sure who the boy is.

Here's the story: This is a photo of my 11 year old son at our Family Reunion in Wyoming last year. We were playing a game with all the cousins to see who could put a shirt on first. But, here's the catch. I had soaked the shirts in water, rolled them up and put them in the freezer the night before. Does that change what you see in the photo? He has spent about 30 minutes beating and pulling on his frozen, rolled-up t-shirt. Only after he was able to break the ice enough to unroll it and then pull the sleeves apart was he able to get it on. And, out of the 25 kids playing the "Frozen T-Shirt" game, he got his shirt on FIRST!

Wouldn't it be a shame if I didn't take the time to put that story with the photo? It totally changes what you see and suddenly you start seeing how the shirt is pulled at the neck. You can see the frost on the top of the right sleeve. You might even wonder if he's freezing as he puts it on.

The stories are what make the photos meaningful to the next and future generations. Don't forget to leave a place for them.