Today I want to start a discussion on another challenging topic for scrapbookers. How can I possibly pick leave any of THESE photos out of my scrapbook? This is a tough one! I know many of you love to use every single photo taken. In this day of digital photos, though, that could really make for a full scrapbook – even if you do use Flip Flaps!
Let’s look at someone photos from our trip to Hawaii last year.
I am going to start by telling you that I love every single one of these photos. I actually have 31 photos of the waves in this part of the ocean, but I’m sharing 16 with you. There is something about each photo that helps me relive a memory of our conversation and feelings that day. I wanted to limit my picture selection to three. So how did I go about selecting just three?
Here are some steps that I follow:
I am naturally going to pick the best photos. I want photos that are not blurry – and that can happen a lot with wave photos. That helps me eliminate some photos.
Secondly, I want to pick the photos that are more interesting. Where is the sun hitting the waves just right? Are there interesting rock formations in the photos? After all, this was formed by volcanic activity, so everything would be so unique.
Once I’ve gotten to this point, I want to select the photos that have the best water sprays from the waves.
So what three photos do you think I chose?
I chose the photo in the top row on the left. Not only is there a great wave, but I was able to capture the force of the water against the rock.
The next photo I chose was on the far right of the third row. The rock and waves are incredible in this photo plus we get a nice ocean view in the background.
Finally, and maybe a least likely choice is the far right photo of the 4th row. You may not have selected that one. But I love it! In the forefront of the photo, you can see my husband. Do you know what this photo shows? The enormity of what we were viewing that day. Plus it’s got a pretty awesome water spray.
So what will I do with the other 28 photos? I am going to back them up on a hard drive, flash drive, and let them live in the Cloud. I use the extra measure of a flash drive for vacation photos because it’s easy for me to pull them up for printing for my scrapbook and we can easily pop the drive into the back of the television.
I want to challenge you to try this. Life is a big, long journey, and we want to include as much as we can in our memory books, but we also want to make sure they are meaningful. Since I started using this method, I have found my scrapbooks hold a lot more interest for us as we look through them. Not once has my husband or son asked why I didn’t include ALL the photos. They are just very happy with the photos I’ve chosen and the story I tell. And guess what? So am I!
My next post will be a little tougher because we talk about photos of people!
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