Memories for later years - A Christmas Idea

Photos for my grandchildren - memories for later years - a Christmas tradition.


I have done it every year since my first grandchild.

I make a print, in fact I make a lot of prints.  A total of eight pages on photo paper - standard letter size.  Each page has photos of the kids from the year, generally I have 4 on a page (each photo is 4x5 inches) and so there are 32 images.  Then I put them in a plastic 3-ring binder sleeve, two pages in each sleeve, back to back.

This is the fourth year I have done this.  They will have an album now with about 120 photos, and it will grow by another 32 images next year.  I will keep this up until they are in their teens - by that time there will be fewer available photos probably - but time will tell.

So, where do I get the shots from?  I have taken some of them.  I also visit their mother's face page (as we are "friends") where I look at her posted images and take the ones I like.  I then use an editor and crop each image down to a 4x5 inch print at 300 dpi and make a compilation of 4 images.  This creates an 8x10 page that I can print on 8.5x11 photo paper.  It works well.

I try to include important people in their lives.  Mom and dad.  Grandma and Grandpa.  Nana and Papa.  Gee Gee.  And anyone else I can find.  I think I need to include other photos of preschool mates, friends, and aunts and uncles too, but I will have to ask for those specifically.  Maybe next year.

The important thing is that they will have an analogue, hard copy, series of images that they can look at any time they like.  And it will help to reaffirm and strengthen memories.  I like to have my own photo in there, although this year I didn't make the cut.  That's the problem with being the photographer - you're behind the camera, not in the image.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

 

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