Any Sad Moments In Your Photo Albums?

[SanFranciscan]

Some movies I watch just stick with me. Maybe a month ago I watched "One Hour Photo." The movie is marketed as something of a thriller, which is often another term for the kind of violence I don't like to see. This one was different. I found some of the things that Robin Williams' character brought up rather profound.

One of the things is about how we photograph the happy times in our lives and how easily anyone looking at our pictures could get the impression that we had all led carefree lives. I was just wondering, do any of you have pictures in your photo albums that are sad? What motivates you to still keep these pictures?

 

[bumbershoot]

They aren't printed yet, or put in albums or scrapbooks, but I do have some sad pictures I took of my son when my FIL died. It was just after Thanksgiving, and he had been in hospital since October. It snowed that night, and since we're in western WA that made it impossible to get around. My husband went up to his mom's place before the snow really got bad ("bad" being relative) and got stuck there. So DS and I were on our own, for the first time since DS arrived.

We had told DS, and he didn't totally understand, but to some extent knew that it was very sad, and I took some pictures that night.


Last year in June, DS got a nasty 2nd degree burn that warranted calling 911, and then we took him up to the ER (in our city, the ambulances aren't free, and the EMTs and firefighters that answered the call said it was a good idea to get him checked out (we're 5 minutes away from a children's hospital with an ER) but they didn't want us to have to pay the $500 it would cost). The burn was AWFUL for him, but then he healed so fast and was so chipper even when it still hurt. It's something he continues to talk about. That night as I changed his bandages I did take some pictures, for posterity's sake, and then pictures of him being smiley not one minute after he was putting on a pouty face for the camera.

I got injured quite a few times as a child, and I would love to have pictures of those injuries, though I don't know why. Just in case he ends up like me in that respect, I want those pictures for him. BUT I doubt I'll have them printed at a place, I'll probably do those at home.



But honestly, I think that most of the time, if we're in a sad place, we aren't thinking about grabbing the camera. So most of my sad moments in my albums are sad in retrospect. The picture of my mom at the totem pole on her last visit to me...the pictures from seaworld after DH had to leave to be with his father in the hospital, and so on. They are sad in context, although taken in a happy time.

 

[believen]

I guess I scrap everything. The good, bad, sad, and the ugly. Usually funeral photos (not actual funeral photos, but after, at a meal or gathering) turn into Legacy or Memorial pages. It is a time when the whole family is together and although sad, is a time of fellowship and sharing memories. I have scrapped hospital stays and recovery. My then 10 year old DS had an asthma attack and stopped breathing. It is all scrapped. He is fine- full recovery-after a very scary 7 day medically induced coma. I've scrapped teenage drama, loss of pets, best friends moving away, and just really bad days. I have lost a mother in law and sister in law to cancer within the last year. So, every photo with them in it, has been hard to scrap.
My scrapbooks are full of many happy, joyful times, but I'm scrapping our lives, which isn't just birthday parties, vacations, and holidays.
I guess I would say my motivation would be my family. Our faith has carried us through some very sad times. And even though the circumstances may be hard, sad, stressful, we are still happy, confident, and loved.

 

[Fran98765]

I scrap the sad, but don't usually share those online.

 

[KerTggr]

I don't know so much about the sad, but definately the ugly. My sister and I have scrapbook pages of all the surgeries or major injuries in our families lives.

 

[Kim1964]

I don't take photos of sad times and I don't scrap sad times. For me, once through them is enough and I don't want to relive them by scrapping them.

 

[Spinning]

Depends. I have pictures of my son when he fell off his bike and looked terrible. Eventually I plan to scrap them. It was a fact of life.
The last page of one of my disney books is dedicated to my dear friend who when with us and died several months later. I typed up what I said at her memorial service and did it on velumm next to her photo. I felt I needed to capture the feelings of the trip and her at the same time. It ended up being one of my favorite pages as time went on.

 

[JandJ]

I guess I scrap sad stuff. I took pictures when my sister broke her wrist skating. I have some of us skating and then her at the hospital and then with the cast. When my grandma died I did a page with the last picture we took of her. For my mom I did a two page lay-out of all the flowers we were sent. I haven't started the 2008 album yet but I don't have any pictures of my daddy's last months so I'll probably put his obit in the album.

 

[DeborahA]

Sometimes scrapping a traumatic event can be theraputic. I am scrapping my journey with breast cancer. It is in a separate book and sometimes it is just about feelings or happenings and does not involve pics. I keep it private mostly, but I have shared it with a few close to me. Everyone handles things differently---I believe you should do what you need to do
Deb

 

[scrappinmom]

I think it depends on the sad time...I have scrapped some very sad things in my own life. Scrapping helped me tremdously. I had just started scrapbooking 10 years ago when my newborn son died. While I thought I could never scrap that...I have 2 entire albums just full of his pictures, my thoughts, the memorials we've done since then, and other things. Like every Christmas I buy a new Pooh ornament for our tree, it's "my" way of rememebering him.

When my 14 yr old fell and broke her collar bone, I scrapped one picture of it, and journaled a ton. I wrote about how I felt seeing her hurt, and how I could do anything to help her forever

 

[goofyisinphilly]

My grandfather died 2 weeks ago and I am going to make a memorial shadow box and then do an 8x8 album from last Christmas.

The shadow box is going to have a rose, wheat, and the grandfather ribbon from the wreath at the funeral, a St Louis Cardinal, and a bowl of cotten from this fields this fall.

Grandpa farmed and ginned cotten his entire life and I think it will be a nice rememberance for someone who lived a full life of 87 years.

 

[fireplug]

I have done some pages of the firefighter funerals I have been in. They are all sad but some have been worse than others.


Squid

 

[JandJ]

I don't know how I forgot this, but I completely forgot one very sad time I scrapbooked. My cousins are firemen, as were my uncles and grandpa. My cousins went into 9/11 the day after, and for many days after that, and one of my cousins took a lot of pictures. He always takes pictures of fires he works at. He gave me a set of those pictures and I used those photos as well as news report photos and made a 9/11 book. Because my cousins were there, because of the real pictures, and because I'm originally from NY and have a lot of "before" pictures that I added, the book is incredibly special.

 

[aroyer]

I have scrapped when my DD was admitted to the hospital for suspected Kawasaki's disease. She ended up not having it (thank goodness) and it was a pretty traumatic experience for all of us. I only have a 2 page layout done, I plan to do more. I saved all the get well emails, hospital bracelets, etc. So I need to finish the whole experience.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

I have it all scrapped but for the most part its in its own book that doesn't get shared as much as others. I look to scrapping as "if its recorded I dont need to remember" because I know if and when I need to relive those memories (the good, the bad and the ugly) they are all there. For the most part they are not "scrapped" more just put on card stock with journaling along with any stuff like newspaper clippings etc (yes all is protected) but are accessible

-em

 

[TiggerFamily]

When my son was 7 weeks old he was hospitalized with RSV and I have pictures of him in the hospital. It was a very scary time. I have picture of him with is cast on when he broke his arm at age 4 and I wrote all about the whole ordeal so he can know about it when he's older. So yes I scrap the sad too.
I take pictures of the boys when they are angery or mad so they can see how silly they look. and yes I put them in their albums. We look back and laugh at them.

 

[C.Ann]

I have several large scrapbboks that I am continually working on that are based on the tragic events of 9/11.. Can't get much sadder than that.. I have newspaper articles; magazine articles; photos and bio's of people who perished that day; photos obtained from the internet; etc. I am doing these scrapbooks for my DGD - who was just about to turn 3 at the time.. (We were in Disney World on 9/11, so of course I have lots of photos of the empty parks; newspaper articles about people being stranded down there and unable to fly home; etc.) When she is older I want her to be able to look back at all of this memorabilia and understand that it wasn't just about "numbers" that day.. These were actual people who died and I want her to understand the impact that it has continued to have on the surviving family members - as well as the rest of the country..

Also, after my DH passed away in January of 2005, I started scrapbooks for each of my 5 stepchildren - outlining his life from when he was a boy, through his years as a Marine, his life with his first wife and their children, his life with me and my children, and ending with the photos taken at his memorial service and his military burial..

Life and death go together and I guess I never really thought about separating the two..

 

[scrappinmom]

Life and death go together and I guess I never really thought about separating the two..

You said it PERFECTLY! That's how I feel too. What a treasure you are creating for your husband's legacy...for not only the children, the grandchildren and many more people who won't have the chance to know him. That's how I feel about scrapping my son's short life...it's not something I share with everyone, but there are people in our lives & my other childrens lives that I want to know him - the scrapbooks seem to do that for me.

 

[LindaBabe]

C.Ann, I totally agree. Well said.