The art of photo scribing should not be ignored. Your photos need words. You and your family need a more whole story of your photos.
Of course, photos are the driving force behind the story told in most albums or in a computer app, but the larger story is not told when that is all you do!
There’s a better, more sure way to preserve stories using photos as your core to tell a more whole story of your photos.
Photo scribing brings us to the story behind your photos.
Many of your photos need a descriptive paragraph. It is not hard to write such a paragraph. We call these mini-stories “cameo narratives.” They are not hard to create, and they make your album so much more faithful to the lived experience.
Your photos are obviously important to scrapbooking. They are a terrific visual record—but the photos do not pinpoint the story. They don’t tell the date, don’t tell who was there, don’t tell what happened before or after the photo was taken. You need to write lifestories in your photo albums or computer doc to complete the ‘picture’.
Use your pictures to jog your memory. Then using this information, write captivating cameo narratives and captions to go with the photos to make an improved memoir scrapbook or computer document.
Commit to preserving a more whole story of your photos.
Read through the posts below to begin your journey of photo scribing. If you really want to get serious, visit the photo scribing section on our bookstore
Photos in Your Memoir Layout
Where you place photos in your memoir layout is important.
While it may seem obvious, it bears repeating that where you place photos in your memoir layout is important.
It will influence how readers appreciate your story. The only way I can grasp that makes sense is to place photos chronologically within the text. Why?
A bit of book-writing talk
There is in reading and writing a phenomenon called “suspension of disbelief.” If I as the reader am constantly saying “This is only a book. This isn’t really happening as I read,” then it is impossible for that reader to get “lost in the story.”
On the other hand, if the reader agrees not to challenge the story—to make as if the story is actually happening as s/he is reading—then there is a good chance the reader will enter the story and experience it as if it were unfolding before his/her eyes.
Now the reader is only one partner of the agreement. The other partner is the writer. The writer MUST NOT do anything that forces the reader to suspend disbelief.
A famous gaffe [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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About the making of the Photo Scribe: A Writing Guide / How to Write Stories into Photo Albums
One day in 1996, I read an article in a local newspaper about a scrapbook workshop called Creative Memories that was about to be presented. The article mentioned both designing photo albums and writing stories for photos—actually the article said “photo captions” but I immediately thought of stories. There was something about the tone of […]
Get More Info From Your Photos–The small details for your memoir are in your photos
Look with “new eyes” to get more info from your photos.
“Where do I find more details for my memoir?” you ask. “I remember a lot and I’ve done my Memory List, but where is the small stuff I need to ground my memoir—and possibly provide new insights?”
The answer is in your photos. Get more info from your photos by following these steps
[Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Write Your Lifestories into Your Photo Albums
Photos are the driving force behind the story told in most albums–no photo, no story. It shouldn’t be
that way!
Your photos are obviously important. They are a terrific visual record—but the photos do not pinpoint the story. They don’t tell the date, don’t tell who was there, don’t tell what happened before or after the photo was taken. You need to write lifestories in your photo albums to complete the ‘picture’. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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When You Must Have The Photos You Don’t Have/How To Journal Without The Photos, Part II
What to Do When There Are No Photos
The Memory List that you completed when you first began writing your memoir is integral to the writing process. The Memory List will suggest topics to write about, but what follows is additional tips you can use when you don’t have the photos. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Write The Stories Behind Your Photos
Your photos tell stories. Did you store away a slew of photos in shoe boxes over the years–and more recently created huge photo files in your computer? (These are perhaps even worse than shoe boxes. At least, photos in shoe boxes are easy to look at vs photos as thumbnails!) Your photos tell stories.
The Photos You Don’t Have / How to Journal Without The Photos
Notice Gaps In Your Collection of Photos?
As you organize your photos for your albums, you notice gaps in what you photographed–in other words, the photos you don’t have. You remember events that you didn’t even photograph at all– perhaps you weren’t there or perhaps you were too busy to take photos.
You can ask around to find if anyone took photos you might have copies of. And what if no one has photos to record a time or a person in your life that you simply must memorialize? What to do? [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Creative Memories and the Memoir Network
“My photos tell only a part of my family story. How can I include more of it in my albums?” scrapbook consultants asked when I presented writing workshops at two national Creative Memories™ conventions in 1996 and 1997. Creative Memories is a premier, international company that promotes and teaches photo-safe scrapbooking awareness through classes and workshops.
Since 1988, I had been helping thousands of people to write their personal and family lifestories through my Turning Memories Into Memoirs™ workshops. Because of my experience, Creative Memories invited me to teach their consultants what scrapbookers call photojournaling. I taught them how to write interesting and effective narrative texts–cameo narratives, I call them–to incorporate into the well-designed, photo-safe photograph albums Creative Memories folk produce and advocate. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]