A New Year Resolution I Want to Keep!

January 2009

February 2009

So I have two sicks little boys (we all have some type of flu that involves fever, cough, sore throat, etc.) so we all have been stuck inside. The highlight of my New Year was when Duke vomited hamburger pizza all over my husband's favorite recliner. Anyone know how to get that smell out of leather??? I had to pick undigested hamburger out of the washing machine after cleaning up and washing the towels. Yuck...

I never make New Year resolutions ...
because I know I will break them. Sure, there is a huge list of things I want to do, but I know resolving to do it on Dec. 31st is not going to make a hill of beans difference to my life. I already broke my "need to exercise more and eat healthy" partial resolution. Why did my husband buy those stupid little animal cookies with frosting and colored sprinkles? They were for the kids, but I had to taste-test them to make sure they were not stale. And they weren't. Stupid cookies...

But this new year I feel inspired. I have not edited or printed my family photos since the middle of 2008. The only time anyone sees a photo of my kids is if they take it, or they read this blog. :-) I have grandparents begging me for a current shot where Imp has hair or Duke is walking. Yes, Imp is almost 3 and Duke is 5, it has been that long since I have given out family photos to relatives...

So what is the purpose of taking all of these amazing shots of my life and then having them sit on my computer, gathering dust, mostly forgotten? I have read that almost nobody prints out their images anymore. That makes me sad.

There is something about having physical prints. I love sitting in a comfy chair with a full photo album. I have memories of visiting my grandparents in Bremen, Germany and going through their photo albums of my father's childhood. Carefully turning those little thin almost transparent sheets of paper protecting each page of photos and smelling their slightly musty but wonderful old book smell. No big screen monitor or fancy slideshow replaces that feeling.

So I am resolving to edit and print out (and put in albums) all of my family photos from 2008 until present. And I am giving myself until Feb. 28th of this year to finish 2009. Then I will go back and finish 2008. This is one resolution that I am actually excited to complete.

The hard part is not editing hundreds and hundreds of photos. I simply use LightRoom and do basic color and B&W editing (yes, really!). The part that is killing me is picking my favorites. I can't find a bad photo of my kids or family. Sure, it might be blurry (Duke's eyes are half closed in a blink and he looks demonic), or tilted (why is our backyard fence falling off the edge of the photo?), or somewhat boring (why did I take a photo of Imp's dirty sock or that chicken foot?). But every shot has some type of story, or a special out-of-focus smile, or inside joke. So how do I pick my favorites?

It is a difficult job, but I am up to it. Wish me luck! And I hope my story inspires you to go out and start actually editing and printing out some of your old photos so you can enjoy them. :-)

BTW, I am picking one random photo from each finished month and posting it here and on Flickr. So far so good, I have finished Jan and Feb 2009! March is kicking my rear because it was bluebonnet season and I have hundreds of shoots of the boys frolicking in flowers (yeah, sad...).