Out Of The Past

Forgotten Memories

I have a bunch of projects in the wings for this web log. Some have been there for quite some time. Suffice to say, I don't lack for content, I just lack the time to get it all organized to post here.

I am going to start one of these projects today, and it will probably take me a long time to finish.

I am an avid photographer. I have been taking pictures since I was in college and continue to do so to this day. I wouldn't classify myself as a professional or an artist, although I occasionally impress myself by what I have learned. I can't say why I do it specifically, but one of the reasons is a fear of forgetting.

If we are not reminded of the past, we tend to forget it. The little things that make us who we are get lost in the fog of memory and are forgotten. Who here, can remember what their first grade classroom looked like, or your first Christmas tree or the dashboard of the first car you made-out in? They are important, but all too often gone from our memory.

We don't just live in the here and now. We are made up of a string of events going all the way back to our birth, and beyond.

Before the advent of digital video, there was motion picture film. It wasn't used by many and is all but gone now. 8mm, Super 8mm and 16mm movie film was the only way to document moving images up until about 20 years ago. I used to do a lot of home movie production until it became impossible to find the film and develop it. I have reels of the stuff along with film tins of 8mm that I have picked up at garage sales and thrift stores. Probably in excess of 40 hours worth.

These are all memories stored away and unseen by anyone. Some of it I took, but many of them are memories of people I never knew.

So I am in the process of digitizing the collection and posting it on my YouTube channel. The first installment is posted at the link above. I have no idea who these people are, except for what was written on the film box. They were young and appear to be frolicking in a river sometime in the 1940s. They were someone’s friends, parents, co-workers. They are probably all gone now, with nothing left except a head-stone...and possibly this film clip.

I will be posting more weekly on YouTube and coming back here to post some summaries of them on a monthly basis over the coming year.