Are you preserving your stories and the stories of your family?

Nikon D5, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM | S, Sigma TC-2001 2x, ISO 9000, ƒ/5.6, 1/400

Last night I enjoyed watching my daughter playing the witch in the musical Into the Woods at her high school.

It made me think of thirty-four years earlier my high school musical Lil' Abner. 

This is one of two photos I have of me from that performance. I gave my camera to a friend and asked them to take some photos. They took maybe three photos total. When shooting film people were careful because each time you pushed the button it was like spending a dollar.

This is just a copy of the print from that show that I could find.

Nikon D5, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM | S, Sigma TC-2001 2x, ISO 5000, ƒ/5.6, 1/125

The main characters in the musical Into the Woods are taken from Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and Cinderella, as well as several others. The musical is tied together by an original story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family, their interaction with a witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey.

It makes you think about the next generation. As I am watching this I am realizing I am now watching the next generation as actors on the stage as my friends and I did years ago. Some of my friends went on to Broadway from that cast and there maybe some from the cast today that will become Broadway stars.

Nikon D5, Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM Art Lens, ISO 7200, ƒ/4, 1/80

My daughter has all of our family flying in from all over the country to see her as the Witch. I hope that in thirty-four years that all these photos and videos I have been making of my daughter will help her tell her story to her children.

What I hope to do with my photos of our family is to help preserve the story of our family so that in the generations to come will be able to look back and see the legacy from which they come from.

Nikon D5, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM | S, Sigma TC-1401 2x, ISO 7200, ƒ/4, 1/400

What are you doing to help preserve your families story? Are you capturing some of the moments that can be shared in the future?

Thank goodness that today's cameras let us capture situations that when I was in high school were so difficult to capture on film.

Nikon D5, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM | S, Sigma TC-1401 2x, ISO 7200, ƒ/4, 1/400

Tips

• Take the photos of live performances and events of your family
• Share the photos now through social media
• Store images – have the images in at least three places. With today's Cloud solutions I recommend putting the photos here as one way to preserve them.
• Create hard copies
• Prints
• Photo Books
• Include Text!!!!! Take the time to write down things like who is in the picture and what is going on. Think of writing a caption like you would see in a newspaper or magazine. Attach it to the photo. [metadata]
• Have a plan on how you will pass down to future generations your photos for them to have and cherish.