Writing From Photographs

In class today we explored the possiblities of writng about our lives from old photographs. Some were quite old and some fairly recent, but all sparked memories. We talked about what we saw and what we didn't see but could tell from the pictures.

                                         A picture from my past

Look beyond the main subject of the picture. Where was the picture made? Was there an occasion for the picture? When was the picture made? What era? How can you tell? What was the location? Look at the facial expressions? Were the people happy? What do you see in the background?

Today we saw a picture of an older man and a little girl standing before a small house. The owner of the picture told a wonderful story based on the photo. The little house was her play house. Behind and to the side was the area where her father grew a garden. The man in the picture was her grandfather who had come from England to visit. Her one and only visit with him, but she had many memories of that time and I hope we will hear more of them in the weeks to come.

We looked at a posed family picture. The students could tell the family was celebrating an anniversary of the older people. They could tell it was in the seventies from the men's hair and the clothes worn. Some discussion on where the picture was made, but someone finally figured it was made in a house.
So, even if you don't know the people in the picture, you can still tell a lot about what is happening.

Go through your pictures and pull out those that mean the most to you. Ask yourself questions about these photos. Ask the questions above. See how many memories and stories you can write from each picture.