May became National Photography Month in 1987 when Congress recognized the role photography plays in modern society. The American Photographers Association one of the primary backers and supporters of Photography Month. There are activities, exhibits, and sales all month. With the advent of digital imaging interest decreased but then returned in 2007.
National Photography Month Activities
- Photograph everyday moments Make a plan to document your life for your descendants. Think of topics like grandma in the kitchen. Toys. cars. Perhaps you already document your life. There are Covid themed archives around the world now. Ordinary people and archivists are collecting images, audio, and video (plus more) so that future folk will have the material context to understand the time in which we live. Is there one in your area? Ask a local history librarian or a Reference person, they are bound to know.
- Make a photobook. It doesn’t matter if you use a word processing program or something more sophisticated like Shutterfly or Snapfish. Chatbooks turn social media into browseable books with little effort.
- Send a photo card With Felt a new app. Old photo or new There is a new app I can’t wait to try. It’s called Felt and it helps you create cards with digital images and then mails them. Oooh. Do I know a few folks that need a family history pick me up. Bet you do too.
- Your pet. Set up an Instagram account for your pet or feature them on Tik Tok. Dogs and cats are often internet sensations and videos/photos of them go viral. Try it and see. Pet not really of interest then start an instagram account for your family photos. Watermark each one before uploading using umarkonline.com
- Merge Your Family photos and genealogical information together into a book your descendants will love to look at. There is nothing like the storytelling potential when you merge images and information. It’s hard for genealogists to accept sometimes that their family isn’t always interested in the tree you’ve built but add in some photos and tell some stories and they’ll be hooked.
- Virtually Visit a photo gallery or museum. During this pandemic, many museums began offering virtual programming. Some through Facebook, others through YouTube, and some through their website. What’s your favorite museum? The Museum of the American Revolution’s Facebook page offers short presentations by conservators and artisans. You can take a virtual tour at The Tenement Museum in New York There are so many options.
- Become the family photographer. Smartphone or digital SLR, just start snapping and Enroll in a photography course. It doesn’t matter whether it’s at a local college, online, at a local hobby store. it’s a skill you won’t regret acquiring.
I can’t wait to go out in the world again. While I’m home, I’m in planning mode. What archives do I want to visit? Is there a location my ancestors lived that I’d like to walk? Uh.. YES! Thank you to all the archivists and librarians that are on the job answering our emails and phone calls. You’re keeping us all sane.
Have you checked out my patreon account? You can support the development of new content (and get content) each month.
Related Episodes:
Episode 120: Good Pictures: Amateur Photography and Our Family with Art Historian Kim Beil
Episode 110: Best Practices for Photo Organizing
Links:
- Chatbooks.com
- Shutterfly.com
- Snapfish.com
- Felt
- Tenement Museum
- Museum of the American Revolution on Facebook
- Lippitt House
- Patreon
- Sign up for my newsletter.
- Watch my YouTube Channel.
- Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
- Need help organizing your photos? Check out the Essential Photo Organizing Video Course.
- Need help identifying family photos? Check out the Identifying Family Photographs Online Course.
- Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.
About Maureen Taylor:
Maureen is a frequent keynote speaker on photo identification, photograph preservation, and family history at historical and genealogical societies, museums, conferences, libraries, and other organizations across the U.S., London and Canada. She’s the author of several books and hundreds of articles and her television appearances include The View and The Today Show (where she researched and presented a complete family tree for host Meredith Vieira). She’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel, American Spirit, and The New York Times. Maureen was recently a spokesperson and photograph expert for MyHeritage.com, an internationally known family history website and also writes guidebooks, scholarly articles and online columns for such media as Smithsonian.com. Learn more at Maureentaylor.com