Picture Perfect

I was doing some research today for an article I was writing and came across a great site that gives tips on taking vacation photos. Check out this cool site. This will really help me out when I take my maiden journey to New Orleans at the end of next month. I am psyched about my trip the Big Easy and about staying here.

One of the things I learned about taking great photos on your trip is that you need to tell a story - create a narrative. That got me thinking about the stories of my past - the ones that I learned only through pictures. I never knew my grandmother. She died when I was three months old from ovarian cancer. Aside from stories my family has told me, what I cherish most are the old pictures that painted a picture of what her life was like.

When I was a little kid, I used to sneak into my parents' bedroom and take out the old family photos from their dresser. I can still remember the smell of the pictures. It had a strong scent, which was oddly familiar, even though the pictures were taken before I was born. There were pictures of my parents' wedding. My grandmother looked so proud on that day. There were pictures of my grandmother at family parties, laughing and carrying on. She looked like she enjoyed life to the fullest. She was definitely the life of the party. There was one picture of my grandmother dancing on a checkered dance floor, lit up with a dozen colors. I'm pretty sure that was the 70's. That must have been a fun decade!

One of the last pictures that I remember was taken a few months before my grandmother died. It could have been around the time when I was born or just before. My grandmother, sadly, looked sick - like she had lost some weight. Still, through it all, she had a smile on her face. Despite the pain she must have been feeling, she still managed to have a smile on her face.

That picture was so powerful, and the collection of pictures told the story of my grandmother's great life. For me, the pictures live on in my mind and in my heart. That is what pictures can do. They capture the moments of our lives or they tell the story of the loved ones who have come before us.