Photo by Vincent Ippolito
Source:www.jimippolito.com

My father was an avid amateur photographer and despite meager finances he always found a way to eke out enough money to document me and the rest of the family over the years.

Naturally all his work was with "wet process" film, but as a perfectionist he always followed proper processing and storage routines, and, as a result his images, such as "Mickey", his cat, taken circa 1940, live on long after his demise.

I'm sure he looks down on me, with satisfaction, from that big darkroom in the sky, whenever I look through his pictures, whether they are of my parent's 1936 honeymoon, of me as a child, or the last ones he took of his dog.

These days parents are busier than ever, and their kids engage in more activities than were available when I was growing up. While this may mean less personal time for parents it also presents more opportunities than ever for the documentation of family events, be they routine, such as birthdays, or of more significance, such as graduations or weddings.

Digital photography, which has not only become the new method for preserving memories, has also reawakened people's interest in photography as a hobby.

So keep that camera with you, batteries charged, and memory card cleared and snap away, even when you think there's no reason. Go for some candid shots and grab a picture of one of your tykes checking out the cereal shelves at the supermarket, or as he or she walks off to school, for example.

When you have a minute do quick rundown of all the seemingly mundane things that go on in your life, and consider how many opportunities there may be for photos of your family and friends in non-formal settings.

I came across this highly interesting and useful website, "Clever Parents", which currently features some great tips for documenting your kids lives via digital photography.

Note that the author of that article believes, as do I, in backing up your photo files.

As I've suggested in the past, always back up your files, exactly as they came from the camera, and use copies to crop, alter and otherwise manipulate. Then save your manipulated files in a separate folder, on removable media, and you'll have the best of both worlds.

Believe me; years from now, when you have more time, you'll be happy to have those original files so you can manipulate them with whatever graphics programs the whiz kids have developed between now and then.

Just as I arrange and rearrange my and my Father's old photos in albums now, you'll be printing scrapbook pages, photo collages, family trees, posters, greeting cards, and calendars using your old digital photo files.