Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Video Cameras and Family History

If you don’t have one already, buy an inexpensive, easy-to-use video camera. Or rent one; I did for our family’s first few video recordings. For sure, video cameras last a long time. I still have the one that I bought twenty years ago. Trust me, it will be one of your wisest family investments. At the very least, pick up a camera. Why? Movies and photos become the visual memories of your family. They detail ‘who you are’ at a point in time. But don’t just use them for special occasions. Catch the everyday moments of your day – especially your play and interaction together.

Our oldest son, John, who is twenty-two now, recently took all of our home movies and pieced different shots into various themes (like birthday parties, visits to grandparents, story telling and play themes) and put them on a DVD for my husband for Father’s Day. We have two such compilations. Each is a fascinating visual display of our family’s history.

Spending time with grandparents is another quick and easy way to experience family history. Grandma and grandpa have all the stories and memories stored right there for us to enjoy. Hang out with them to catch the colorful details about your family culture, traditions, and relationships. Better yet, use your video camera to record their stories and their images for years to come.

1 comment:

John K. said...

Mom,
Awesome blog. totally impressed. I've been trying to integrate a blog to my own site and created the blog awhile ago, and the site, but couldn't tie the two together, until I recently used your site as an example. Awesome deal. It's SO hard to get "comment traffic" and user responses. You had one from an anonymous user so far! I don't know all this "high traffic" blog users do. You're the best.