Nearly everyone I know scrapbooks. When she had her first baby, my sister-in-law scrapbooked the living daylights out of that event, complete with stickers of baby bottles and pink rattles and bows and whatnot. My sister, a kindergarten teacher, makes about 40 scrapbooks a year for the kids in her classes. Each child gets one complete with pictures of every field trip and event from that year.
I actually used to work for a company that manufactured scrapbooks and scrapbook accessories. I, along with my boss, ran focus groups on scrapbooking, compiled data on scrapbookers and licensed artwork from the people who actually drew the pictures of bottles and rattles and ribbons and bows.
None of that is why I hate scrapbooking.
This is why.
When people scrapbook, they take away from their pictures and add pictures from a can. I don’t mind the stickers and such–I think they’re fun. I collect stickers. What I mind is the cutting away of the context for each memory. It’s rare to see a scrapbooker use the entire picture. They’ll use fancy scissors to excise baby or grandma from the background and then paste baby or grandma into a book. Meanwhile the rest of the picture–the nursery or Grandma’s kitchen–winds up in the trash.
When I look at old family photos now, I’m endlessly entertained by the backgrounds and the extra memories they spark. As great as it is to see my sister as a baby, I’m also captivated by the picture of the bathroom in which she is being bathed. The old yellow tile, the gilt-edged mirrors and that old soapdish which broke years ego elicit a thousand more memories of my past. Those pictures are a gateway to movies in my mind.
What is important to you now as you scrapbook this vacation or that holiday is the person. Yes, that person will be just as important 25 years from now. But you’d be surprised at how touching you’ll find old wallpaper now painted over or trees since chopped down.
I don’t like scrapbooking because it further edits memories in the context of the present. It throws future treasures away.
Yeah how freaky is that UFO anyway? Ha. It’s probably an airplane. Or a weather balloon.
I love your explanation.
That sounds a lot better than my reason for not scrapbooking:
I’m too lazy.
hmmm… BabySis™ scrapbooks but she almost always uses the whole picture (she may cut some fancy border around it). Not being interested in scrapbooking, I just thought that was pretty much the way it was done. I’d always wondered what the big difference between a scrap book and a photo album other than stickers and bright paper. I guess, I’ve just never seen a “real” scrapbook.
my brother’s mother in law is a huge scrapbooker — and your reasoning is right in line with my reasoning.
when I look at my baby books from 1975-77, my parents lived in a different house than the one that I grew up – I don’t have any memory inside those houses – if my mom had cut me out of the photos and thrown the rest in the trash I would have no idea of what those places looked like.
Good post. Great point.
[...] Meanwhile the rest of the picture–the nursery or Grandma’s kitchen–winds up in the trash. [Why I’m Against Scrapbooking - Just Another Pretty Farce - 02-04-08] Spread It Around: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
I cherish a picture of my mother’s mother as a girl. She and her brothers are standing with their parents in front of what looks, at first glance, to be a pier. The photo seems to be old and crumpled. But, when you look closer, you see that the family is standing in front of a crumpled backdrop with the picture of a pier painted on it. You can make out the posts holding up the backdrop at the sides of the photo, and if you don’t cut off the bottom, you recognize that they are actually standing in the dirt in their farmyard. For some reason, I find this increrdibly touching. Cutting the people out of the frame of the photographer’s setup wouldn’t have nearly the impact.
The scrapbooking phenomenon completely bypassed me. I don’t understand it, but I know I don’t like it.
I agree with you 100%! Yes, I “scrapbook,” but what I do barely resembles the kind of scrapbooking that you’re talking about. I ALWAYS use the whole picture for the same reasons that you mentioned. I love looking back at pictures from the past and seeing something special in the background that sparks some nostalgia. One of my favorite pictures is of me pushing Davy around our old kitchen in a stroller. That horrible green, flowery wallpaper brings back so many memories!
fascinating! I never thought of it that way. I’ll think twice before I crop photos next time I’m working on a book.
[...] Bridgett’s posts of old family photos. Kathy T’s have been great as well. Kathas a good post about scrapbooking, and it mentions old photographs, and their importance. In our [...]
Wow
I am so guilty of this. I love to scrapbook, although I don’t have much time to do so. When I do manage to muzzle through the thousands of pics I have waiting for me, I will definetely remember this. You have changed my whole strategy, but I can work with that!
I have been guilty of this from time to time, but I resolve the ethical problem (for a historian, it’s a professional thing) by never using an original copy for the scrapbook. There’s the photo — in my archival photobox, in the flat file (yes, I am that big of a geek) — and then there’s the illustration that I make out of the photo. I expect the photo to last longer than the illustration, I guess.
I remember having to try to fit my paternal grandmother’s picture in a frame. She lived a very hard life and died from acute peritonitis because my Papaw had her “seen to” by a vet who was out at the farm to worm his cattle rather than taking her to an MD. She had very few luxuries in life but there’s this one photo where she’s found a rhinestone coat button and sewn it on the throat of her dress. I’d found the perfect frame, but I could only make it work if I cut off her button. I just couldn’t do it.
I started a scrapbook of old photos of my paternal grandparents a few years ago (notice I said “started”…yeah, it’s collecting dust now but I digress…) And there’s no way I’d cut any of those pictures. They are put in the scrapbook using those corner tabs so that they stay in place but are not adhered to the paper. I love being able to see the background of the pictures, where they were taken, etc. I couldn’t get rid of that stuff.
In my regular scrapbooking, I’ve been known to crop pictures but I have been able to recognize when a picture needs to stay intact because the elements that make the picture so interesting are not the actual subject of the photo but the setting or what’s going on in the background.
MMMMM. I have been looking for this. I have started scrapbooking in an extremely unpopular way.
1. I tend to use copies and minimally cropped photos.
2. I am very angsty. I hate the way the stupid layouts are so HAPPY. It is like pictures move to Pleasantville.
As a Scrapbooker I can understand where you are coming from. I love scrapbooking, and I don’t cut my pictures. I use those corrugated scissors, if I need to, to cut paper and make frames around the pictures. I do not agree with people that cut the people out of their pictures either. But each to it’s own. My albums have all of their backgrounds. The only ones you don’t see a background to, is the close-up pictures where you don’t see one. Depends which scrapbook you’re looking at. It’s like anything else. Some have the touch and some don’t. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and everyone have their own taste. That’s what makes the world a unique place to be. If we were all Scrapbookers, that’s all we would have to talk about, if we were all mechanics, we would all be talking shop. It’s nice to see all the different ideas that people have. We only need to make suggestions. Some people may not even be aware of what they are doing. There is a saying that says”Practice makes perfect”. With trial an error we all improve eventually. Hopefully sooner than later. Have a great day!