Counting one’s blessings - digitally
Tuesday, August 6, 2024 at 08:37AM
Blue Skunk blog readers know I like photographs. Taking them, scanning them, organizing them, sharing them, I’ve taken photos since I was a kid using a Kodak Instamatic camera back in the 1960s. (Remember flash cubes?) I took slides using a Pentax 35mm camera with a telescopic lens on my travels in the 1980s. I dropped a Canon digital camera in the waters off Abel Tasman park in 2010, ruining the camera but saving the photos on the memory card. And like many of us, I’ve documented my travels, my grandchildren’s growth, and family events using the camera in my smartphone.
I have thousands of photos, in print, scanned, and digital from over the years. But it is rare that I take the time to look at them. The physical photos are in albums stored in my second bedroom/office. The digital and digitized shots are on a website in the cloud. Yeah, I have a few prints framed around the house. I have personal photos as screensavers and backgrounds on my computers and phone. And I make the family calendar full of photographs that I glance at now and then. But for the most part, my pictures have been out of sight, and sadly, out of mind.
That is until this past week when I received a “digital frame” as a birthday gift. This small monitor is designed to display pictures randomly from a collection uploaded to the manufacturer’s website (or from a flash drive or memory card if so desired). So over the past few days I’ve been carefully selecting photos from the past 60 years to be shown on the frame that distractingly sits beside my television set. (I have lessened the distraction by changing the change rate of photos from one minute to five minutes.)
And what a pleasure this task has been. Looking back over childhood snapshots, somewhat faded photos from the 70s and 80s. Converted slides from the 90s. And of course heartwarming pictures of my kids and grandkids as they have grown up, along with good times with friends.
Such a visceral way of counting one’s blessings! Looking at my photos I realize just how fortunate I have been to have grown up in a stable household with caring parents and relatives. How it has been possible to get a good, yet affordable education. To have had a rewarding career and professional opportunities. To have been in loving relationships. To have raised responsible and pride-inducing children. And to have had the joy of being part of grandchildren’s growing up.
I guess a digital photo frame is just one more blessing to count!
Reader Comments (3)
Hi, Doug
Was thinking about a digital frame for my husband. What kind do you have, if I may ask? I’m starting to shop for one.
Thanks,
Joy
Hi Joy,
Mine is a Sungale. No idea how it compares to other brands, however.
Doug
We got a Nixplay digital frame 7 years ago when the first grandchild was born. It's one of the first things I look at every morning with my coffee, to put me in a happy frame of mind (pun intended).