Using photos to tell your story...Lessons from Hamilton
Have you seen Hamilton? It’s amazing on a million different levels. When I first saw it in Chicago, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I hadn’t listened to the music until the week before, so I felt like I was a little late to the party. What I didn’t expect was to walk away thinking about how this man and others chose to tell their story.
Hamilton was a man who was very concerned (maybe overly so) with his legacy. I loved the last song, ‘Who tells your story?’, where the people he’d touched commented on what Hamilton did for our country and what he did for them personally. Eliza, his wife, then goes on to talk about what he inspired her to do.
We will all leave a legacy, whether we want to or not. The question is a good one: “Who tells your story?” Hamilton left pages and pages of writings. How are you going to help the people you love share what matters most to you?
Laura Gilbert, a St. Paul author, wrote a book entitled, The Stories We Leave Behind. In it, she talks about shaping your legacy by identifying the themes in your life that you want to be known for and downsizing with those themes in mind. I love this concept and highly recommend this read.
Photos have been used to shape legacies throughout history. Our challenge today is that unless we invest the time to pull the stories out of the boxes of inherited/accumulated photos, as well as our thousands of digital photos, it’s not going to be easy to know what was important to us. The type of shampoo I use or the screenshot of that sloth meme probably isn’t how I want my grandchildren to remember me.
Here are a few things you can do to tell the stories you want told…
Sort through the boxes and choose the photos that are part of yours or your family’s legacy and scan them. Sorting them gives you the opportunity to choose the memories that matter most and scanning them is the best way to preserve them for future generations.
Figure out the best way to tell your story. I say this with so much love…handing over a collection of 20,000 photos to your children is not the best way to pass on your legacy. What is meaningful? Taking your very favorites, whether you’re telling an individual’s story or a family’s story, and creating an album, a slideshow, or a video that includes stories and memories. This might be a story that chronicles a person’s life, a family over generations, a milestone event or the story of a family business. We often do this when someone dies. What if we didn’t wait?!
Ensure that once you have told the story, you preserve it by making sure there are backups and the story is kept in a safe place so it can be passed down for generations. This could include identifying a family memory keeper, creating copies that can be shared or creating a family website where your memories are stored.
I think Hamilton was onto something.
Take charge of your legacy by helping your family preserve the stories and the things that are most important to you.
Overwhelmed with your photo mess? Getting started organizing your photos can be the hardest part! Grab our FREE GETTING STARTED GUIDE that includes tips for how to create a plan, teaches you how to take inventory of your collection, and provides the form to do it.
Holly Corbid is the Founder/Owner of Capture Your Photos, where we help you to organize, preserve, and share your lifetime of memories. We specialize in digital photo organization and work remotely with clients all over the country.
For inspiration and ideas on how to capture your legacy, check out other CYP Blogs. We love helping our clients tell their story, from scanning to slideshows to albums designed specifically for capturing your legacy, we’re here for you.
Are you a DIYer? Check out The Photo Organizing Blueprint, our online course that teaches you how to organize both your printed and digital photos.