Pictures

We love pictures. We take pictures of landscapes, people, plants, insects. Everything. If it sits still long enough or if we have a fast enough shutter, someone, somewhere will snap a picture of it. 

In genealogy there are things that make a picture good and things that make it pretty close to meaningless. 

This is a good picture. What makes this picture a good picture. The two people in the picture are clear enough you can see their face. If that was your mother or your father in the picture, you'll love seeing them in their younger years. This particular picture is my grandmother's sister holding my uncle. 

I don't know if my cousin's have ever seen this picture. I do know if they haven't, the first time they do see it they'll appreciate the fact that they can see their dad's face. They'll probably think about when their own kids were young and remember seeing that same expression on their children's faces. 

They'll probably look at the picture of our Great Aunt Ruth and see if the years melt away to where yes, this is a younger version of her. 

I didn't see my Uncle Richard very often. We lived in Kansas and he lived in California. But the memories I have of him I can see that mouth and jaw on an older version of the little boy. 

What would have made this a bad picture? Not labeling it and not having it found until long after all of us who had seen and known one or both of the people in the picture were gone, too. 

I have way too many with generic labels on them. I have way too many that are group shots of about 15-20 people on a picture that is no larger than a 2" by 3" and the label simply says "Knight relatives". No dates. No names. Nothing but the picture and the family line. Some even get more confusing. "Knight, Braden and Davis relatives." 

They could have been good pictures, but right now they are bordering on useless pictures. I don't know of anyone alive who can help identify the people in them. If there is anyone alive who could do so, their eye sight is poor enough at the age they'd have to be that it makes the picture fairly useless for genealogy purposes. 

It's still useful for historical purposes. But I'd love to have names for them. I'll spend time trying to enhance them at a larger size, but I'm not real confident that I'll be successful. 

Label your pictures. Put names, place and date on them. A hundred years from now someone could find them and they'll be thrilled to see those pictures from a time before they were born. Not only will they see the pictures but they'll know who is in the pictures. 

Please take the time to label the photographs you have in your possession. The day will come, much sooner than you realize, when the picture will still be here, but anyone who can label it is long gone. That's what I'm learning as I go through our family pictures that Mom gathered together for our family history. 

Make your pictures good or great pictures. If it's worth saving, it's worth labeling.