Almost, Not Quite

Don’t adjust your monitor.

No you aren’t imaging things: The photos are blurry.

My oldest daughter visited us several months ago. As usual, I took photos of her and her sister. It almost made me sick when I processed the files and realized 90% of the images were out of focus—some of them to a large degree.

Immediately, I knew what happened. For quite a while I’d been having problems taking crisp photos. At first I thought it was the new lens. Nope. Then I bought an eyepiece magnifier to help make things a bit bigger and easier to see. That didn’t work either.

My ultimate solution was to have my eyes examined. Sure enough, I needed a new prescription.

I was relieved to figure out what went wrong, but bummed about all the distorted pictures.

Then it occurred to me, I could use the photos anyway.

Scrapbooking is about capturing your family memories, memorializing your adventures, journaling your vision. When I see the photos from my daughter’s visit, I can hear the girls laughing together and the occasional sisterly comment. I think of our trip to San Francisco and sitting around the table playing cards.

Those photos remind me of how much I love my family. The imperfections in the images don’t make a bit of difference.

So I scrapbooked with them—happily.

Now I have a page full of the lively color and fun vibe I associate with my daughters—which makes me smile.

caption

alyssa & ashley
jan 2011

journaling

normally these photos wouldn’t make the cut, but they remind me of ashley’s visit and having my girls together. yeah, they are a little fuzzy, but it’s a memory that i cherish.