Writing Descriptions for Photos

There are so many photographers out there capturing life every day. Photographs are an amazing invention that has changed how we view our past memories and moments in life. However, what would a photo be without the story written about it? There are many photos in my old baby album that I wish desperately my parents would have written more about what was going on at the time in the picture. Can you relate?

By writing down a quick snippet of a story about what is happening in a picture, you can make the photo come alive again in the future. Written descriptions about photos can help all of our senses (touch, feel, hear, taste, smell) come out stronger. We want to offer you ideas of  how to do this and make interesting, entertaining, and exciting descriptions to help make your pictures come alive more in your scrapbook.

1. Wherever you go with your camera, phone camera, or whatever you use, make sure you also have a small journal or notebook with you. Record things as they happen. You can even take down time and date to be more accurate. Unfortunately we do not have a remote control for our life to rewind a moment we want to relive again. Jot down notes about the picture you just took.

2. Remember being in elementary school and learning the five W’s (Who, What, When, Where, Why)? I still cannot get these out of my head to this day. Write down notes about who was in the photo, what was happening, when it occurred, and why the people were doing what they were doing. Go into detail later when you create your scrapbook page and talk about the story before this story in the picture was created. What was going on behind the scenes. If you are on a vacation in the photo, make sure to explain all the smells around you, the sights you saw, and how you felt at the time. Most importantly make sure you include the reason why you decided to take that photo.

3. Write down the story about your photos as if your future grandchild or great grandchild is looking at it. That child may never be able to have that same experience you had in the photo, so make sure you are describing it with such a clear explanation about what is going on. For example, I recently heard the other day that in the future there will no longer be anymore bubble wrap that makes the great snapping or popping sound. It is great fun to push those bubbles on bubble wrap. It is a great stress reliever for so many of us. This bubble wrap is apparently being replaced by a new kind that does not make this fun sound. What sound would you compare the original bubble wrap to, in order to describe it to the future children of this world. They will never be able to experience this same fun that we had as a child. How sad is that?

Note: If you want, you can keep some of the old bubble wrap in an “Any Occasion” DIY Time Capsule so that your kids can experience the true fun of what is seen in your family photo. Open up the time capsule years later, and let your grandkids have fun popping the bubble wrap. What a fun day or reminiscing that will be. Get your own DIY Time Capsule to put this bubble wrap in here.

4. Make sure to write your descriptions in your scrapbook with your own handwriting. It will be interesting to see how your handwriting changes over the years throughout your life.

We hope these tips helped you today. Leave us a comment about the scrapbook you are currently working on.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Marcie