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grandma and me, august 1981 

photos

What I intended to write about (see previous post) was digital photos. I read an AP article in yesterday’s paper about how people are taking so many more photographs now, with digital cameras, than they ever were before. That there’s this overload of images, and a fear that single images will lose their force & memorable quality when we are inundated with so many.

I’m not sure what I think about that. It’s an interesting way to think about it – the single image losing its power. But I also think, on the pro side, that it makes it so much easier to document daily life. For anybody to do that. To make it easier to end up with a good photo and not a blurry, red eyed one. And to stay in touch with people – to put photos on a blog, or email them, and have friends across the country be able to see the Easter egg hunt at church. To me, all those benefits of connection between people outweigh any loss of memorability of a single image.

This format also lets us put up as many or as few photos as we want. Seeing them here, rather than just in an online photo album, makes them more indelible to me. I carry a lot of them around in my head, just like I do the pictures of me holding my baby sister, or Lu eating a honeydew melon larger than her head, or my family in the backyard.

It seems like, with all these photos at our fingertips, and the ease of sharing them, it’s even more important that we pick good ones to share. Take more, end up with better pictures (because you can see the immediate results) and share the best. Not always the best composed, or best quality, but the most memorable ones.

Sacrificial lamb

Yesterday being Mother’s Day, I had brunch with my family. Or rather, there was a slightly glorious cohesion of efforts between me, Lu & Dad that resulted in a meal of crepes with strawberries and whipped cream, and bacon. Warning: if you pile a crepe (flavored with amaretto because you did not have the “orange liqueur” that Julia Child called for) with strawberries & whipped cream and proceed to drizzle it with chocolate syrup, it moves from the realm of brunch to that of dessert. Try it. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Speaking of food, last night I was discussing Easter dinner with Katy, and how it was carefully arranged due to various eating habits of guests. Present were: 2 people who’d eat pretty much anything; 2 people who weren’t eating any dairy or gluten; one vegetarian; one vegan. I wouldn’t want to try & plan a meal like that, but it worked. Everything was delicious. And I would know, because I ate everything. Except when fasting, I’m not a picky eater. I don’t like a lot of beef, but if you serve it to me I’ll eat some. I don’t like breakfast sausages. I don’t like eggplant, so I’ll avoid it if it doesn’t look rude. I never have to worry about what I’ll be able to eat when I’m invited somewhere for dinner. What’s interesting to me is the number of people who choose dietary restrictions – of all kinds – for themselves. There’s nothing wrong with being a vegetarian or a vegan, and there are some good things about it, but…no. Not me. I’d rather try to be aware of where my food comes from, but basically just eat what’s good. Good for me or tasty. And go from there.

Um, that was NOT what I meant to blog about. I can’t really remember what I started out with in my head. I guess I’ll be back if I remember.