What’s the story behind @savefamilyphotos? That’s a great question. It’s one I’ve been asked many times. And the answer is short and sweet: personal projects start in the heart. My heart beats with the belief that old family photos tell stories…ones worth saving. When we take time to tell our stories, we save them from […]
Alaska 1970. Meet my Grandpa, Paul Scharfencamp, who loved hunting. He also loved photography. I’ve been scanning and piecing together information from photos he took during his service in WWII, his experience as a pilot, his career as a trucker, and as a father of eight. He made several hunting trips to Alaska where his […]
“History is nothing but a series of stories, whether it be world history or family history.” – Bill Mooney My Dad playing in Little Italy, around 1947. The family had just moved to a new neighborhood, and the huge spools he played on actually held brand new electrical lines that my Dad remembers the city […]
My parents, Oct 13, 1951. Washington, DC. (Happily married for 62 years.) I discovered my parents’ wedding album as a young photography student. I was struck by the exquisite craftsmanship of these photos. Wedding photographers in 1951 worked with 4×5 Speed Graphic cameras which only took one sheet of film at a time. They had […]
We all love a good mystery. But when it comes to identifying and preserving vintage family photos, one little mystery can consume us for weeks or months! Have you ever discovered an old family photo and wondered, “who’s this guy and how’s he related to me?” That’s a common mystery for families when working on […]
Caption: She was an explorer, a hunter of the strange and wonderful. There were times when her adventures were fewer and farther between, but during the summer of 1939, she couldn’t stop moving. Everyone knows the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” And it’s popular because it’s true! When we look at […]
1977. Me and @portraitsounds with our great-grandmother “Omi” in Jerusalem. We didn’t speak a word of Hungarian, she didn’t speak a word of Hebrew, but it didn’t matter. My great-grandma raised my mom while both of her parents worked. In her nineties, Omi was still well enough to help my mom when my brother was […]
“In the end, we’ll all become stories.” – Margaret Atwood From left to right: my father (the nerd) my grandfather, grandmother, and aunt. My uncle took the photo at their cabin. I had a couple photographers in my family, so I have some really good photos from as late as 1860’s. But of all the […]
What memories make you proud of your family? This photograph of my late Grandma and my cousin was taken in 1973 in a small town called Greytown in South Africa, where my father and his four siblings were born and raised. My Grandma was a single mother who worked at a boarding school laundromat until […]
This is my great-grandpa taking a selfie, circa 1910. It probably was one of the first in California! 🙂 My great-grandpa’s name was Heber Clewett Senior and he grew up to serve in WWI. ~shared by @stephanie.m.collins View on Instagram →
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