In our house, winter is not a time to slow down. Winter is for indoor swimteam! Both my kids swim year round but my oldest is on a club team AND her high school team at the same time. Today was a high school meet, tomorrow is a club meet (if it doesn’t get canceled for snow). Last year HS swim was virtual (that was a joke) and club practice was OUTDOORS. Yes the pool was heated but holy crap still. That’s some serious dedication and love for the sport right there.
On top of the crazy swim schedules, all four of us have birthdays within 4 weeks of each other in the midst of the most dreary cold weather on the planet. At least as Maryland weather goes it’s pretty awful. Not enough snow and too much bitter cold and mud. Impending storm tomorrow so everyone is FREAKING OUT and the grocery stores are empty and all I know is I’ve got cake mix for tomorrow’s birthday celebration and steaks to throw on the grill which will work regardless of a snow and ice fueled power outage or not. Trying to muster the energy to get excited about birthdays during a pandemic for the 2nd year in a row really kind of sucks. I think we’ve settled on taking the soon to be 11 year old out for hibachi and axe throwing for the soon to be 16 year old and a few of her friends.
But I digress. Despite busy home life it’s an excellent time to get caught up (I don’t know, build a website? Revamp your whole business model?), work on some personal projects (my mosaic studio is calling my name…), and take on non-shooting photography work. It’s a great time to get caught up making albums for clients and doing one of my most favorite things: DIGITAL SCANNING! I’m such a party animal, I know. But I love old pictures. Like LOVE love them. I was a history major afterall (go Dips!). It’s an excellent use of time when family shoots are 95% on a hiatus till spring.
One personal project I want to start one of these days is scanning in all our own family pictures – all the pre-1970 ones and then milestone pics from my parents wedding in ’75 and beyond. From there I want to create some sort of photobook/album that is organized like a family tree. The middle would be my brother and I, say growing up till high school graduation or there abouts, and then I’d work out from the middle with dad’s side and mom’s side each taking half the book. Oldest pics would be the very front for one side and very end for the other. Would love to throw in any newspaper clippings that might have been saved (Wedding announcements, that sort of thing), or documents that come along. Then I could make multiple copies so each of my kids and my brothers could all have a copy. I am proud of my families history and I think this is a great way to honor it while also not losing it and keeping it all together.
