Family Heirlooms :: Then and Now

We shoot both film and digital and I really have an appreciation for both mediums. But the truth of the matter, as we believe, is that tangible products that you can hold in your hands are what become family heirlooms.

The other day we were at my grandparents house, and as we often do, we started looking through old photos. My grandma (who is quite young, peppy, fun, and one of my favorite people ever) pulled out her wedding album and I squealed with delight. I've never seen these photos.

There, in the office of their house, Nana, Luke, and I all kneeled around the coffee table and flipped through the plastic covered pages of my grandparents wedding album. I found myself an active and excited participant in the exact scenario that we tell our couples that they should plan for: their grandchildren looking through their wedding album.

Pretty stylish album for a few decades ago, huh?

First, lets talk about how adorable my grandparents are. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I just love the old school 8 x 10 black and white images in these pages. Sure, the plastic squeaks when you turn the page. The spiral binding makes it a little tough to flip through. But most important: this is my family's history.

Just for fun we stacked the album on top of one of our wedding albums here. Not too shabby!

Of course there are differences... technology allows us to print our images directly on the pages of the book on beautiful, full-color photographic paper. Our books have no squeaky plastic sheets or spiral binding. But what they have in common: both are family heirlooms. Both are treasured.

I don't know what the technology was in my grandparents' wedding time... and I'm so glad I don't have to worry about it since they have actual pictures I can hold in my hands and look at.

Well... that is, until they are safely stowed away at my grandparents house again for safekeeping for years to come. :)