To Crop or Not to Crop...

The major project that I am focusing on in 2014 is pictures. I, probably like most of you, have pictures tucked away in boxes, drawers, bags - and any little space that is available. The other day I ran across a group of pictures from 1990 - thinking that was not so long ago, I was shocked when I realized that it was 24 years past. Frightening! At the moment I am in the process of gathering every picture I can find and sorting them by year. I'm finding it a difficult task, but I will persist.

What I really want to mention today is the background of pictures. What I am finding most interesting in very old and not so old pictures is the background or surroundings that make up the picture. Outdoors it might be the vehicles or buildings, and indoors it would include the décor or styles of that time - perhaps foods or dishes. To demonstrate, I am going to use a picture that we used as our Christmas card this year. It was taken in 1959 or 1960 in my parents' home.

 

I love all the tinsel on the tree! The rule was that we had to place it on the tree one strand at a time, and of course it all had to be removed the same way as we undecorated the tree. It was saved until the next year when the process was repeated.

 

And I remember so well the draperies in the living room and all throughout the house that my mother lovingly sewed. This was in the 50's and they were made of a somewhat nubby fabric called bark cloth. She purchased the fabric at Shriver's Department Store in Sioux Falls.

 

The picture window was always decorated at Christmas time and each year Mom came up with new ideas. And of course there is a Saturday Evening Post in the magazine rack!

 

But here was the best find in this picture - the little choir boy that still comes out to sing each Christmas in my home!

 

The tendency today is often to crop our pictures in an effort to highlight the people; but if that had been done to this picture, I would have missed out on the opportunity to be reminded of and reminisce about the home I grew up in. Give this some thought the next time you are cropping a picture.

 

Another option would be to periodically go through your home and take pictures of how you live today. January would be a great time to do that. And if things aren't perfectly picked up and cleaned, that's even better. Someday the kids will enjoy seeing the toys they played with strewn across the floor and their childhood shoes piled by the back door. And whatever happened to those dishes we used to eat off of every day?!?

 

Till next time...

Blessings,

 

Gail