As a baby boomer, I'm hardly unusual in having a large box of photographs in my closet. Also likely common is my photos' diversity: fading Polaroid baby pictures, travel shots, family gathering commemorations, images of people and places I can't identify, some professional photography, and quite a lot of etc. In addition, I have a few photo albums -- created when my parents thought I was cute and when I worked to record and remember vacations.
But the years have generated a lot of unorganized pictures, and I'm falling further behind in making sense of them. Worse, the photographs suffer from improper storage: being folded, fading, cracking, sticking together. Even the ones supposedly preserved in albums are being damaged by invisible hazards.
An antidote to my generation's mistreating photographs and neglecting family histories may be "scrapbooking". This inclusive term can mean anything from arranging pictures in scrapbooks (what albums are called when they contain pictures) to using computers. Whether high- or low-tech, it includes rescuing pictures from hostile environments. Old-style photo albums with adhesive corners or sticky pages can damage pictures. Scrapbookers use acid-free archival-quality paper and supplies (photo-safe adhesives and pens), aiming to produce material that lasts for generations.
Some people come to scrapbooking with organized materials, with pictures already sorted and documented. Others are in my camp, with a chaotic and ever-growing stash of family snapshots. Either way -- and especially if starting from scratch -- there's a þeeting opportunity for this, as memories and generations are lost.
I'm told that most scrapbookers are women, many of whom start as girls, assembling books about friends and activities, then continue as young mothers recording their childrens' growth, and as grandmothers making scrapbooks about their extended and extending families. But technology also draws men into the hobby, especially with improving capabilities and lowering costs of digital equipment such as scanners, cameras, and printers. Pixifun's child- and budget-friendly kits for creating keyrings/magnets/stickers/badges/CDs include software and parts for creating instant photo keepsakes.
Scrapbookers develop unique styles and personalities, matching goals and resources available. Some keep things simple, using pictures, decorations, and a little labeling to tell visual stories. These scrapbooks are great for documenting oral history and reminiscing. They can follow themes such as genealogy, school events, family milestones, travel, etc. Beyond pictures, scrapbooks can contain anything meaningful, such as mementos, postcards, clippings, cartoons, tickets, etc. This can be supplemented by decorations made with tools such as circle-cutout tools, edge scissors, and lettering stencil templates; accessories including colored and patterned pages, border trims, themed stick-ons; and stamped images. Some enjoy feeling connected to the past by producing Þnal works from physical memorabilia rather than working with images.
Scrapbookers call telling a narrative story "journaling", Þnding this a way to create meaningful and long-lasting collections. Examples are keeping chronological scrapbooks of and for family and children, and creating time-capsules for events such as the new millennium. Pages can combine photos, captions, and decorative material so that each tells a visually appealing story. Alternatively, some people build pages with single images surrounded by cutouts, stickers, decals, lace, etc. -- less interested in telling a story than creating a picture. There's no rulebook, no single right way to scrapbook!
Scrapbooks can be wonderful gifts, conveying connections and feelings beyond those of any store bought gift. A dedicated scrapbooker I know is happy that her children will be able to leave home with their own history books.
Higher-tech approaches include using a digital camera or scanning original images into computer Þles, using photo-editing software to improve their visual characteristics or create effects such as the antique look, creating photo-montages blending multiple scenes, and producing "scrapbooks" on printed pages, CDs, or the Web. This technique protects precious -- and often fragile -- records, while allowing viewing and handling easily recreated digital replicas. And we've all seen "mini-scrapbooks" produced by technology: photo collages used as family holiday cards. Digital technology lends itself to producing multiple scrapbook copies -- for wedding guests, for example, or even as commercial ventures.
Techno-scrapbookers often use Adobe Photoshop Elements and Photoshop software products; the vendor features kid- and adult-friendly tutorials. Click the link and search for "scrapbook". Other popular software includes Corel photo products, Macromedia Dreamweaver, and Pinnacle Systems Studio 8. As photo capture/editing/printing demands increase, so do hardware requirements. One 20-year veteran scrapbooker suggests a þatbed scanner with minimum 600 ppi (pixels per inch) without interpolation; a slide scanner for negatives and slides; 80 GB hard drive; 512 MB RAM or more; high-end graphics card with expandable non-shared memory; CD/DVD burner and minimum P4 processor. She uses a multimedia PC, digital camera, and camcorder to go beyond photo basics, adding design touches like antique Þnish and repairing defects such as tears and scratches.
Useful resource sites are Scrapbooking Top50, Stamping Top50, and Digital Scrapbooking. Stores frequently mentioned are Michael's and Craft Country.
People discover scrapbooking by accident or design -- some take classes at community colleges or recreation departments, others discover commercial sites such as Creative Memories [www.creativememories.com] or see friends' scrapbooks. Whether your taste runs to scissors or scanner, paper album or CD, narrative or decorative scrapbooks -- get out those picture boxes and preserve those memories!
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