More about family photographs

The past week has been spent sifting through piles of old family photographs, some dating back to pre-First World War. It's quite a collection and most of them are in good condition, lovingly mounted in period photo albums by my late parents.

Others are loose and faded, or they're badly damaged by the light. Some are incredibly battered, as if they've seen active service themselves. It will be quite a job to make them good again, but very satisfying to do.

Then there are the images in different formats, such as 35mm slides or photographic negatives. I'm not too concerned about all these because at least there is something physical there to work with later, when we have more time, hopefully.

No, the thing that most bothers me is the digital images. They're so vulnerable and hardly future proof. And there are so many now.

This last week I've started to tackle the problem, beginning with family holiday photographs. I gathered together the ones I liked the most from past happy summers in Gascony and I've made them into a book. It arrives tomorrow and I'll be happy knowing that I've got something tangible to share with my family.