This post is the first of what I hope will be an ongoing and interesting series. It was prompted by a post over at Stuart Forsyth’s place. It featured an old family photograph of a woman on a rock. It’s a lovely image from a time long passed.
In the post Stuart talks about having a collection of family photographs going back generations. Through my long-term interest in photography, I have gathered a large collection of family photos too, mostly from my mother’s side of the family.
I am not sure why there are so few from my father’s family. Maybe they have gone to someone else, maybe they just didn’t take a lot of photos. For some reason, a lot of people in my mother’s family had cameras and took a lot of photos of family gatherings and holidays.
I have a large box of old photo envelopes containing camera shop/pharmacy type prints. Some still have their negatives in the envelopes too.
Unfortunately, some are fading, worse still, over the years they have been looked at so many times that some of them have been mixed up and are no longer with the other images they were originally with. Worst of all, there are no notes on the prints, so I don’t know where they were all taken, or even who some of the people are. But they are a fascinating insight into the generations that came before me and my early childhood.
The first image I am posting in this series is one that is very important to me personally, it is the beginning of my story.
This is my mum and dad on the day they became engaged in 1949.
This is a good thing to do. It’s poignant for me, and many like me whose parents came from war-torn Europe, and other war afflicted countries. There are few photos, and in some cases none, to look back on. It’s good that you treasure what you have.
Thanks FJ, I confess I often take my boxes of family photos fro granted because they have always been there. I hadn’t really thought much about the issues for people whose forebears had been refugees. There are certainly many thousands of Australians who have that background.
What a great photo Rob, where was it taken?
Maybe we should start a group on Flickr for old photos and their back-stories.
I’m not sure Stuart. It might be the back verandah of my grandparent’s (mum’s side) house in Geelong, but it isn’t quite how I remember it. But then I haven’t seen it since I was 4.
They also used to rent a holiday home near Torquay over summer, so it might be there.