A family album is a family history—or should be—and for that very reason a well-kept, well-filled album is one of the most treasured family possessions The pictures need n be works of art—if they simply provide a clear-cut record of the family's life, its members and its activities, that is sufficient.
Any first-rate album picture tells you a number of things. It is like news item, whose first paragraph gives the "who, what, when, where, why, and how" of an event. If your album pictures answer these questions, or most of them, they will be thoroughly satisfactory.
Every good. clear picture tells "who"—you can easily recognize the.|people in it. It may also tell "where"—by including a familiar, recognizable scene. The "when" 's sometimes missing. The subjects' costumes may indicate it, in a general way but you should also note down the date under the picture when you place it in the album.
Often, too, pictures don't explain "why" or "how." Why was the picture taken? What was going on? If you were on an outing, why don't ihe pictures show what you did? Every good picture tells a story—and this is specially important in family album shots.
Continuity ie important, too. The album is a continued story, day to day and year to year. Don't leave broad gaps in it—include the everyday happenings as well as the big family events. If you have children, include a month-to-month record of their growth—with a familiar background as a "measuring rod." And arrange the pictures in proper order as you take them, so the story will run smoothly.
l have a friend who maintains his album in this manner. First, he shoots at least one roll of family pictures every single week—sometimes more, but always a minimum of one full roll.
Then he sets aside one half-hour each week for the album. He inserts the new pictures in their proper places, writes the date under each. adds any explanation that's needed, and the job is done. It takes, but a short time, yet it keeps in his album neat, complete, and strictly up-to-date. N "There's a lot of satisfaction in such a "family history book"—and you can have one just as easily as anybody else. All you need 's to put in a few odd minutes each week, and arrange your snapshots according to an orderly plan.
Pictures in correct order—with the date and any other information under each one—and a "story" in every shot. That's the formula for a useful, informative album that you will treasure in years to come and now is the time to start keeping your album along those Lines, robbers than the lama incarnation. The poor pilgrim on his way to Lhasa usually carried very little of any value on his person apart from a little present for the abbot of Dre-burg, Sera, or Galdan.
The pilgrims now, however, have carefully adopted safety fürst measures and frequently travel in fairly large bands when passing through' robber country. And robber country in Lamaland is of quite frequent occurrence. We have come upon days wherein the lama robs the lama and the draba robs the draba and the nomad returns the compliment. Such is life away up on the Roof of the World.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.