Caution: The following suggestions can be habit-forming and some people have actually become addicted to it. Don't say I didn't warn you!
There's more you can do with photographs than just frame them or put them in a scrapbook (though those are lovely things to do as well).
Think fun--think silly--think a little crazy. Are you tired of the same old Christmas photo with everyone dressed up in their Sunday best, smiling for the camera?
Take a lesson from one of my favorite entrepreneurs, MikWright (www.mikwright.com). These creative people took real photos from their childhoods (and before) and created captions for them that are sometimes touching, sometimes silly, occasionally a bit off-color, but always hilarious!
There's no reason you can't do exactly the same thing. Have the whole family get involved! This is the kind of thing that generally works better with more people rather than all alone. Somehow brainstorming just works better with a crowd (even if it's just a crowd of two).
Pull out the scrapbook or belly up to the computer screen and start going through your photos and see what people can come up with for captions. Collect way more than you need so you can cut back to the very best and then decide how to use them.
I have a few suggestions:
- Have a calendar made with a different photo and caption for each month and give it to friends and/or family for Christmas (or whenever you like).
- Use them in a corner of a letter you're writing to someone (this can be either on the computer or taking a copy of one and using the paper to hand-write the letter).
- Send them in the occasional email to someone who needs cheering up or just because it's fun.
- Have a file of them to pull out when you need a good laugh.
- As a special project, you can go through photos of your favorite person who's about to turn 30 (or 40, or 50, or whatever) and make captions that may relate to the upcoming age or that is more specific to an earlier time. Hang them all over the house or office or on the walls where the party is happening.
Think about this for a while and before you know it, you'll be thinking of all kinds of things to do with them and as soon as that happens, you'll want to go back to your photo treasure-trove and make more. As I said, be careful: this can be addictive.
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