Uncle Jonesy's Slides

My mom's side of the family had our annual gathering in the Chattanooga area. A fun day of food, fellowship, swimming, and honor was had by all, but one of the most enjoyable moments took place in the evening when we gathered in my cousin's living room for an old fashioned slide show with some of the hundreds of slides that my Uncle Jonesy took over nearly a forty year period of time. We focused on the slides of family, and the joy of seeing childhood or teenage photographs of many of us in the room was pure joy and elicited much laughter. My brother, Kelley, and I took turns operating the vintage Argus projector, just as we did when we were kids. After showing a number of trays, I announced that the slideshow must come to an end as we had to go, and their was a collective groan of disappointment in the room.

Earlier in the day my brother, who had brought the entire collection of slides, two projectors, screen, and projector table, asked if I would take possession of the collection for awhile, as he and his wife were getting ready to move to a new house.

I agreed, and now the collection is in the upstairs bedroom/office in my house. Whenever I see it, I am so thankful that Jonsey took the time, effort, and expense to create a tangible history of our family and his travels. It’s a treasure.

Obviously, there is a lot of photography here, and my brother and I are making plans to systematically scan every slide and make it available for viewing in one handy site. More on that later.

Since you are reading this blog, I will assume that photography is something in which you have some level of interest. I believe that we photographers have a calling to capture and preserve life as it happens by showing up with a camera and using it with an eye toward the future. Somewhere down the line, there will be those who think of you and be very grateful for what you have down with your camera. Families make history. It’s up to us to capture it.