I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the thousands of photos I have tucked away in shoeboxes and albums, as well as the photos from more recent years that are now filling my camera roll, hard drives and the cloud.
When I think about choosing one of those photos I have stored away…would I be able to put a price tag on it?
How do we determine how much a photo is worth? What gives a photo its value?
A photo is more than just the paper and ink it is printed on. It is more than the hardware it lives on in digital form.
A photo showcases a person or a place or a moment…or some combination of all three. It can bring you back to a past memory with someone you love. It can also help tell the story of those we love when they are no longer here to share their stories with us.
I recently attended the funeral of my great Uncle Tony, a WWII Navy Veteran who lived to the incredible age of 97. At the funeral, my cousin said something that has stuck with me. She had helped put together the photos and slideshow that played at the funeral and said how much she realized that the work I do as a family photographer is so important. The life and legacy of my uncle will live on through the images shared that day, helping to keep his story and his memory alive for us all.
Just a few short weeks after saying goodbye to Uncle Tony, I found myself on a plane again back to the east coast for another funeral. This time, it was for my mother-in-law, who unexpectedly passed away.
As I helped my husband and his siblings print and pull together photos for the display and slideshow, I found myself looking at every photo of her in such a different way. These photos suddenly felt so much more valuable to me. They helped remind me of the beautiful life she had lived, and how each photo helped tell an important part of her life story.
As photographers, we have to put a value number on the service we provide and the products we sell. Those numbers range based on our costs and a multitude of factors. But when it comes down to it, that printed photograph or that digital image of our loved one will become priceless one day because it will honor their story and help them to live on in our memory.
As we enter the holiday season, make sure you show up IN the photos with your family. Take a selfie, grab a tripod or ask someone to snap a photo of you. I promise, it will be worth it.
The photo above is one I took of my mother-in-law during a family reunion trip to Arizona several years ago. She talked a lot about this trip and how much she enjoyed it. Look how happy she was in that moment, floating down the lazy river in an inner tube! I miss her so much, yet I can’t help but smile whenever I look at this photo.