Take a Closer Look: Drawing out the Hidden Details

We all have them, those pictures at the end of a roll. Those random shots of the ones we love, the ones that do not fit into a special category or event. The shots that really do not have the coveted five W’s of good journaling: who, what, when, where, or why. Or maybe it is a great shot that just did not quite fit onto a layout. So, what do we do with these pictures? If you are like most people you stick them onto a layout with minimal journaling and hope that you can get over the guilt of short-changing a wonderful photograph.

However, have you ever considered diving into the picture? Looking past the main image on the photograph and drawing out the small details that may be forgotten? If you took out just the image of the person, what would be left? The table in the background with the beautiful vase your grandma gave you on your first wedding anniversary? The toy in your child’s hand that they threw their first temper tantrum to get? Or, maybe it is not an object that you see beyond the image. Maybe it is the clothes that your grandpa is wearing in a heritage picture. Did he buy every item of clothing he ever owned in the basement of the local JC Penney’s like my grandpa did? If we never take a closer look at our photographs to draw out these hidden details where will these stories be preserved?

Case Study
“Puppy Love”

There is no doubt about it, Maegan Hall’s daughter Brianna is a beautiful little girl, and this picture of her clutching her two stuffed animals is adorable. However, since it is not connected to an event or special occasion how many of us would have created a one-page layout with a title such as, “Brianna and her Puppies” and left it at that? If Maegan had settled for that her family would forever be missing out on the wonderful story behind these two cute puppies. How would they have ever known that one was Maegan’s beloved puppy when she was a little girl and the other is Brianna’s favorite childhood animal too? This connection between mother and daughter would forever be lost.

“Grandma’s Mittens”

After completing a fabulous layout how many of us have been left with one shot that just did not quite fit onto the original layout? I know that I have been faced with this problem many times, and usually I just end up shoving them into a storage box. However, this is the perfect opportunity to pull out a hidden detail in the photograph and create a new layout that takes another direction than the original. For this one leftover image of my older brother and I playing in the snow, I chose to pull out the hidden story behind our mittens. This small aspect of the photograph would normally be overlooked for more obvious journaling focusing on the snowman. If I had stuck to traditional journaling the story of my grandmother knitting mittens for us each winter would not have been included in my scrapbook. Do you have pages in your album that are only telling part of the story or no story at all?

A Story and a Challenge

I used to teach scrapbook classes at my local scrapbook store, and I can remember vividly one particular lady who always came to every class I offered. I can remember the way she looked at her album the day that I preached about the importance of good journaling and taking a closer look at your photographs. As I preached, she jumped up from her table and ran out to her car. When she returned to the class she began ripping the pictures off of a layout she had just completed of her granddaughters first birthday. The layout was beautiful, but as she removed tags and embellishments we all immediately saw what she had painstakingly covered up – a large screen television behind her granddaughter.

When she created the layout the television was an eyesore to her, but at that moment in my lecture she remembered what was playing on the television during that moment in time. You see, her granddaughter’s birthday was September 11th, and each shot of her granddaughter contained images of that day as they were played on the local news coverage. Everyone in the class gasped when they saw what her camera had captured and we all began to help her put together a layout that truly encapsulated all of the emotions and contrasts of that day. What she was left with was a beautiful layout that told the whole story, as compared to her first layout which only focused on the happy memories.

What stories are hidden in your pictures that are waiting to be told? I challenge you to take a closer look at one of your photographs, one of the pictures that may just get the “Nick 2003” treatment and pull out a hidden detail. What story does that picture really tell? What memory will forever be forgotten if you do not journal it today? Create a layout using that story and upload it into the gallery with “September Journaling Challenge” in the title, and then sit back and enjoy the layouts and hidden stories of other Scrapjazzers.

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