Shutterbugs

I come from a long line of photography enthusiasts. When starting this project I came across a lot of old family photos including quite a few of my grandparents as younger folks and even one of my grandmother at five years old. There were a lot of pictures of my mom and her siblings as children as well as old tin-types of her grandparents. All of these are black and white photographs. Except for Aunt Fay's. Her real name was Grace, but somewhere along the line I believe she became Fay because some grandchild literally couldn't say Grace. Sometime in the mid-forties she bought a camera that used color film, so I have some delightful color photos of my mom and her brother in Aunt Fay's garden.

This is Aunt Fay on a fishing trip in 1948.  I have no memories of her at all, although I do remember where her house used to be out on Thomasville Road, right before you get to Ox Bottom.  My Aunt Kathryn lived on Ox Bottom so I always got reminded of Aunt Fay's house before we passed it.  It was a huge old two-story plantation style home and I always wanted to see the inside.

My grandmother, Fay's sister Margaret, also lived in a huge house.  Hers was three stories and is still standing on St. Francis Street.  A law firm bought and restored it to its original grandeur several years ago.  Grandma ran a boarding house there, but I only remember Mr. Earhardt who lived on the second floor.  He was nice and I remember sitting on the front steps with him talking about how mean my cousin Jim was.  He helped me put my Barbie's head back on after Jim pulled it off.  Funny the things we remember.

This is my mother and her older brother Pat in Fay's garden in 1948.  My brother Pat is named after mom's brother.  He and his family live down in Wakulla and lately our paths only cross at funerals.  I adore this photo of them.  Mom looks just like me and my brother and it is in color!  My grandmother also took quite a few photos so we have bunches of my handsome grandfather.  My brother and I have had cameras since we were in middle school.  Mom always sent us off to my dad's for the summer with a small camera that used the 110 film.  We were uptown back then.
No occasion can happen without someone taking pictures.  My daughter and my brother both have an appreciation for photography as an art form.  Sara even uses photo enhancement applications to deck out her pictures for sharing with friends.  Pat likes to take nature photos and can make something as simple as an okra blossom a work of art.  This penchant for pictures has served our family well.  Our immediate family history is well-documented.  I am amazed at the countless photos I have of just my two children.  I really wish I had more photos from my father's side of the family.  I am sure there are a few shutterbugs among them as well.  I just have to go find them.