Photo Journaling
for putting pictures and stories together

Summarizing the idea: Gather together some of your favorite photos, or even those odd photos that bring to mind some funny memories, and write down the stories that these photographs tell. The memories don't even have to be specifically about the picture itself; any stories that the photos bring to mind will be just as loved.

While you may not be able to get a thousand words out of all of your pictures, your photographs definitely tell a story. Or even many stories. Looking through photographs stimulate our memories in a way that few other things can. We often remember not only what was happening at the time the photograph was taken, but we may remember little things that have nothing to do with the photographs. All of these memories are valuable as we recall the stories of our relationships with those now gone.

Putting together an album of pictures and memories of our loved one will help others remember and get to know her better. This kind of album would be perfect, for example, for a widower who was left with young children who were never able to get to know their mother very well. Separate albums with copies of the photos and stories could be made for each of the children and would allow them to come to know their mother as an individual, and not just a mother. Here are some ideas:

1. Go through your photographs and pick out ones that make you smile or remind you of things you did with your loved one. Don't worry if you look through the photos and feel you don't remember a whole lot. Chose ones that evoke feelings or even small "snapshots" of memories; as you recall the small things you do remember, more details will come to your mind. This can be done with friends and family as well - someone else's memories may trigger your own.
2. Make notes about the stories you remember as you are selecting the photographs. You may not remember later why you picked a certain one out.
3. Tangents - memories that are only remotely related to the photo you're looking at - aren't annoying
at all, as they sometimes are in real life. In fact, they add a great deal to the stories behind the photos, rounding out some of the memories that may not be as complete. For example, the middle picture at the top of each page was taken when my son and my father-in-law were at a park together. I wasn't there, so I don't know what happened in their outing to the park, but I could write about their special relationship, why it's funny that they are "behind bars" because of his career as a police officer, and how that affected his family's life.
4. Finally, collect and present your memories in a way that you and others will be able to look through them whenever you wish. Using photo albums and scrapbooks are usually the easiest ways to showcase your memories (see Gathering and Organizing the Stories). Also determine if you want to share copies of the album with others:
   • If you will be giving copies to other adults, you could use larger full page albums. Mount the photo on a piece of paper and write your stories and memories alongside it.
   • If, on the other hand, you'll want to share albums with young children, you might want to use smaller albums so that they can hold the books and look through them with their little hands. The small albums that take 4"x6" photographs could be used - insert a photograph in one slot, then write the story on a 4"x6" card (or cards) and insert it into the next picture slot.
   • In either case, write on just one side of the paper so that you don't have to remove the papers to read any writing on the back.

Here are a couple articles that give ideas on how to write about your photographs. Even though they are about helping you write your own memories, and you are writing your memories about another person, both will give you good ideas on how to get started:

• A Few Ideas for Working with Photos to Tell Lifestories
• Save the Story Behind The Photos: Six Strategies

If you have any other tips in how photo journaling can help preserve your memories, please e-mail me and I'd be happy to include them on the site.

Remembering a Loved One

Collecting Stories from Others

Preserving Your Own Memories

Gathering Memorabilia and Treasures

Creating an Online Memorial

Paying Tribute during Special Occasions

Books about Remembering

Preservation/Care

Things to Keep in Mind

 
record the memories of a
male friend or relative
 

"Photographs are precious memories . . . the visual evidence of place and time and relationships . . . ritual talismans for the treasure chest of the heart."

~ Robert Fulghum, in From Beginning to End

 
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