My last article was about a new photo session we are offering. A sort of photography session we do not get a lot of, Baby Boomers. This group of your family may consist of your mother and father, even your brothers and sisters. After posting the article I started thinking more about my parents and family. I lost my father to cancer when he was just 56 and I was 18. It was a tragic loss for me. He was a very good man, but was always away from home when I was growing up, because of his work. We did do a lot of the family things such as trips, fishing, camping and playing games around the house. But that was when a was very young. I miss him a lot, and I wish I had more photos of him and especially more video. Not just a video goofing around on vacation, but about him talking to me about his life.
A friend on Facebook posted last night that he wished everyone would remember and love and honor their parents. Basically life is too short. He is right. I thought I would share that thought with you.
I am making a plan to do something that all of you can do. Something very simple. Spend a little time with your family members, one on one, in front of a video camera. Create an interview with them, asking them questions about their childhood, their favorite things, things that have made them happy. It doen’t have to be formal, or even professional looking, just capture the moment with them. I have a 95 year old grandmother, we call her GiGi, short for great grandmother. She is an encyclopedia of knowledge of life growing up in the south. I cannot wait to hear her stories. I plan to move on to everyone in my family. You never want to lose them and all the loving things you remember of them, but life is very short. I want to get to know them even more.
Write down a few questions you may wish to ask. Ask family members if they have questions they would like to know. Just be careful what you do ask, sometimes you may not want to hear the answer. I had a friend do this same project, he asked his grandfather who were his favorite children in the family. Boy that was a loaded question. Needless to say, the video could not be shared with some of the individuals that were not mentioned, and even those that he spoke poorly of. Keep it simple and on a happy note.
So I encourage you to put some of your weekend chores aside, get a video camera and have fun archiving those that you love.
