Looking in the Background
Woman in the Middle | December 6, 2014Almost ten years ago, when I first got into doing books on local history, I did two books on our area that were primarily photos with captions. I learned as I was collecting photos for those books that it wasn’t always what was in the forefront of the photo that counted. For example, one photo showed some children at a school bus stop on a rare snowy day. The reason the photo was taken was because of the snow. But in the background of the photo was a house and a tree. A man saw that photo and was so excited. It showed his childhood home, one he didn’t have a photo of.
Thanksgiving day we had a personal experience with the background of a photo. Hubby’s uncles and cousins came to have dinner with us. One of the cousins, their family’s keeper of the photos, brought us a picture we had never seen before. It showed his mom and dad on their wedding day. Hubby’s dad was the best man. The photo was taken outside and in the background was a parking lot. Parked right behind them was the T-bird that Hubby’s mom and dad owned when Hubby was just a baby. We have never seen a photo of that car so Hubby was pretty jazzed.
I know when ever I look at photos from my childhood, seeing the people in them is nice, but the lamp, the chair, the couch, the relics of my childhood that are long gone, that is the fun stuff in those photos. Have you looked in the background of your photos lately?
No, but that’s a good idea.
Yes that is a good idea, history is so important
What a grand insight you have! Now I will be forever looking at old photos in a different way! Thank you!
I hope you find some interesting things in the background of your old photos!!!