Faded Photographs

Back when I was a kid, it was quite a process to develop photographs. They might be called snapshots, but in our house, when I was a child, photographs were taken on special occasions like the family Christmas photo or the Easter egg hunt.

After a roll of film was shot, it was rewound,taken out of the camera and placed on the buffet until my Mother remembered to bring it to the drugstore for developing. The film was sent out of town to be developed. Processing time took about 8 to 10 days. And you had to remember to pick up the photos. They were only in black and white. When color film came out, it cost extra to develop it.

After we moved to Springfield, my Dad, who was a newspaper editor, printed photos in his office darkroom. There are a lot more photos of my younger brothers and sisters than of us older kids.

It always bothers me when I find pictures in a flea market or second hand shop. Someone, somewhere, at sometime took photographs of their family, cared enough to send them off to have them developed and put them in a scrapbook. Yet, they ended up in second-hand store. Along with a lot of other stuff, I buy them when I find them.

I remember when the woman who lived across the street's house was auctioned off, all her photo albums were included in the auction. I asked her son why. He said that none of the kids knew who the people in the photos were, their mother was blind and couldn't tell them and they didn't want them anymore. So they went in the auction.

My wife and I have several apple boxes full of photos. We also have her mother's photo album. I have posted some them on this blog before. Lots of history contained in these old photos.

I have this class photo on my desk. With a wink of the eye to Secret Drinker at the Dive Bar Review, there is a story behind this old photograph. Head on over to Ozark's Offbeat to read it.