Sorting Through Family Photographs

In my constant quest to live life with less "stuff" and as simple as possible, one of my goals is to clean out my garage and that means actually opening boxes and boxes of photographs to sort through them to either throw away or put in flood safe containers.  There are boxes of photos that I've moved from one place to another without opening the box.  When it's moving time, it's easier that way.  Also, I've inherited several boxes of photographs that belonged to my grandparents that I have yet to open.

My garage flooded a few months ago and ruined everything that was on the ground.  I know that cardboard boxes are the worst way to store things so I made a point to start opening the ones that were on a shelf to go through each box and sort through everything to either discard, keep or save to send to a family member.  This is not an easy task!  I spent the entire day going through photographs, cards, letters and old papers.  I think I made it through 3 boxes.

Seeing these photographs made me miss the loved ones that are no longer with me, but I was lucky enough to be close with my grandparents and my dad before they all passed away.  Seeing these photos brought a smile to my face and made me remember once again what is most important in life.  The relationship you have with loved ones.

One box was filled with every letter my father wrote to my grandparents ("Mama Lois" and "Big John") while he was in college at Oklahoma University.  I read a few but knew that I had to put them aside in order to tackle the project at hand.  The ones I read were pretty funny.  My father asked them to send the local newspaper so he could keep up to date on the local sports in the area (Mama Lois and Big John lived in Spanish Fort, AL at the time) but mostly he talked about working hard in his classes while spending most of his time studying.  Riiiiggght......

It was interesting to remember what it was before the technology we have today.  Back then, people would sit down to write a letter and wait a week or more to get a response.  In today's world, if you don't get a response from a text you sent twenty minutes ago you start wondering what's wrong.  He wrote to them a few times a week with about two pages long talking about sports, studying and girls.  What else is there to talk about with your parents when you are in college?  I look forward to sitting down and reading them all.

Here are some of my favorite photographs that I found so far.  It's funny how technology can turn your photographs the way they once were.  Now and days, the only clue to when a photograph was taken is with the clothing and hair styles.

I am very fortunate to have these reminders of the people who are no longer physically with me.  I look forward to finding more "treasures" and I would encourage you to do the same.

The photograph on the top is my father sunbathing in 1967, "Mama Lois" (Father's mother) camping in 1963, my mother and father in 1968, "Big John" (Father's father) and me in 1972, Both Grandfathers ("Poompa" and Big John") in San Diego in 1965, "Big John" with his car and "Mama Lois"(Dad's Mother) and my dad in 1962 - his letter writing years in college.

American Pickers

I am hooked on the show, American Pickers.  It's a show about two guys, Mike and Frank that drive around America looking for junk.  At least junk that they can sell and make a profit on, since they sell the things they come across at their shop, Antique Archaeology.  At first I thought it was a little sad that they were taking things from older people for a profit, but the purpose of it is to bring the item back to life.  Most of the items they find are in homes where the owners have been collecting things and letting them rust away.  The owners have a choice weather or not they want to sell their things and sometimes, they choose not to sell.

I love old rusty things.  I can understand how people can get attached to "stuff" if it's been in the family for years or there is an emotional attachment to an item.  We live in a society attached to things.  If we didn't, there wouldn't be a show about buying and selling old items because the fact is, someone somewhere will want to have it. Aside from the things they find, I am even more fascinated with the people who own the rusty items that Mike and Frank want to buy.

As I drive around the USA, I've come across many homes that would be a target of the show by the looks of the personal "treasures" scattered around the yard.  My instinct is to stop and meet the person that owns the collection but sometimes, you never know what you will encounter.  I've done it a few times when I felt an instinct to stop but more often then not, I pass on the chance for reasons of safety.

Even though I've done it, it's a little odd that a woman driving with her little dog comes up to you to say (in the case of Andy and his yard ship), "Hi, that's a big ship in your yard...could I take your portrait?" For the most part, the people with the collections are proud owners and will gladly talk to you about their yard art.

I would love to travel alongside these two while they do their thing to talk to the owner and learn more about their story.  The real history is the story behind the item and the only person that knows the story would be the one who owns the treasure.

The Virginia Coast to Charleston, South Carolina

Last year I traveled South a few hundred miles from the shore through some national parks and then down to the gulf.  This year I decided to drive along the coast as much as possible.  As you might know, Max and I drove along the coast of Delaware then stopped in Virginia.  From there, I headed West a bit and back down South to Charleston.

I received a tip to go to Folly Beach so that's what I did.  Max and I went on the beach and took a walk after I had a nice lunch at the lost dog cafe.' Of course I had to do another photo shoot of him on the beach.  The best part of our trip is when we are able to get out and enjoy the area together.  Since he's my travel companion, it's important that he gets to do most everything I get to do.  Most beaches allow dogs on them during the winter months.  We took full advantage of that.

Charleston is a great city.  Right on the water, the city mixes culture, history and southern charm.   Here are some photographs I took the past few days in the area.

The last one is taken with my camera phone as we drove across the Charleston bridge.

Women's Work

I have always been fascinated with the roll women play in professions that have historically been male domindated positions.  Even more than the fact thaty are taking on a roll that has been defined by gender in this culture, I want to know why they decided on this line of work and what their life is like outside of their profession.

As you know, I am on the road with my dog Max, a tent and my camera.  A personal project of mine is meeting these amazing women.  As I spend months on the road, I would love the opportunity to spend time with them side by side to capture not only them in photographs on the job, but living their everyday life to get a glimpse of who they are and to ultimately publish a book about their lives.

I started this journey over a month ago and have been photographing women I meet on the road who have career positions that have historically belonged to men.  I would also like to meet women who do inspiring work and spend their lives living out their passion.  That would include artists, visionaries, musicians, and the like.

I think these women are a great example for girls to see and learn first hand that there is nothing they can't do.  That just because they are a girl doesn't mean they have to follow a path that society or the history books say that it's meant for a girl to take simply because of their gender.  I am thankful to the trailblazers that wrote and those who approved title 9. Once approved, I was able to participate on a Women's basketball team in college.

It also starts at home.  I was lucky enough to have parents that kept me busy in activities and sports and who didn't blink an eye when I wanted to try out for the football team in junior high even though I would have been the only girl.

All of the women I have met so far didn't pay attention to any rules to say they couldn't do what they do because of their gender.  Thank you to all of these amazing women who took the time to talk to me about what they do and for setting an example to younger generations looking to do the same.