Going through file photos

I was recently asked whether I have any “file photos” of some parks and public attractions in the Waseca area. It would not have worked to go take new photos at this time because the pictures were meant to depict the area as it looks in summer.

 

I take a lot of pictures, both for the sake of the NRHEG and Waseca County Pioneer newspapers and because I can barely resist taking pictures of attractive and appealing things. Alongside that, most of the photos I have taken for the last decade or so have been conveniently stored in certain online applications–so referencing them did not require digging out any dusty boxes or photo albums. Instead, it was a matter of opening the application and scrolling. The electronic system even knew the date each photo was taken and could tell me where I was at the time.

 

Since it was so easy to investigate, I set to work, not realizing what an enjoyable journey I was beginning.

 

As I came across likely options, I sent them via email to the person who had placed the request. I probably drove her to distraction as her computer repeatedly signalled she had received yet another email from me.

 

Honestly, I am grateful for the request. I had never before had a reason to scroll so far into the annals of my photographic past. Since the pictures are in reverse chronological order (most recent first), I watched my grandchildren and other family members grow younger. Equally importantly, I traveled backward in time to the places and events that comprised my past decade.

 

It would be difficult to count the number of times I made spontaneous noises of recognition or fondness. Children playing in the park during a summer birthday party. Northern lights above a lake. Swans in flight lit from above by sunlight. My sons and grandchildren swimming in a pool below a waterfall. My now deceased mother holding my nephew when he was an infant. The USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Our family posed in front of the cabin which we used to borrow, and have now come to own. Vehicles I used to drive, but had essentially forgotten about. Spring flowers. Autumn leaves. Roiling storm clouds. Robins during a spring snowfall eating dried crabapples still hanging in the tree. Sunrises and sunsets galore, each beautiful and dramatic in its own way. Sandhill cranes wading among cattails. Faces up close making silly expressions. 

 

I spent a delightful couple hours reviewing and remembering. What a privilege it is to be able to record moments and look at them again later.