Playing with Photographs

Yes, actual PRINTS! I bought a beautiful huge album today that holds around 500 prints and started putting a bunch of my photos from years ago into it. OK, let me step back to fill you in. When I was a little girl, my mom had this huge box under her bed, filled with photos and I could spend hours playing with them. As I got older (teen years) I got into really photographing my family and loved putting photos in albums.
One of the albums I tossed today was one I've had probably for 25 or more years, but it was falling apart and some of the glue on the slip in pockets (now the albums are stitched together not glued), had attached to a couple of photos but not bad. But, backing up in time again ...
Then one year, oh 1995 or 1996, I visited a small craft show at Christmas time. There was a Creative Memories booth and I was hooked. I started scrapbooking all the time. I did that for several years, but the worst thing that ever happened, was the consultant/company encouraged me to take all my wonderfully organized photos out of their albums...these weren't magnetic, just slip in pocket sleeves.
So I did.
Well, umm I wonder if I have a case against them? (JUST KIDDING!) as I truly can identify THAT as my downward spiral to total photo disorganization and lack of record keeping.
I mean really, every photo before then, was in chronological order, and I knew the date, place, etc...
Since then it's been pure madness in trying to restore order.
Now my photos are a mess, in boxes, jumbled into albums that don't work not to mention many are in my scrapbook albums which are way too large, heavy and just difficult to pull off the shelf. Plus they are scattered around the house and not all in one convenient place.
I'm going to resolve my mess now that I've found these great huge photo albums. I've requested at least one for Christmas. My husband is also going to get me a huge bookcase that I can put all my photo albums and scrapbooks on.
I plan to reorganize things and also do some journaling. This is a two-part idea.
My idea is to pick just a few photos from various important events in our family life and scan them in, add journaling and create some blurb books that I can add to our photo book library. I love blurb! So, I'll still have the prints, which I will always be attached to, as I just can't imagine not having the printed photograph, but then I'll also have some books with photos and writing that will be keepsakes.

I've also realized along the way that I can really cull out some of my bad photography from a few years ago, like the horrible attempt at still life using pinecones and fall leaves. I looked at that photo and wondered why I still have it! Hah!