Memory/Journal Book

I don't have an empty nest yet, but I have teenagers. A lot of times they don't want to be photographed and a lot of time they're not doing something interesting to photograph. I also feel more intrusive photographing them now.

I do still photograph them, but I mostly photograph all kinds of things that I'm doing such as books I read, flowers I see, places I go, my desk, my food, my cross-stitch project, etc.

 

I am not quite an empty nester, but I do only have the 13 year old at home who never lets me take photos of him any more, so that makes me almost there haha. I take lots of photos of sunrises, sunsets, memorabilia, and just random stuff that goes on during the day. I also tend to "steal" my older kids' photos of them and the grandchildren from their social media Maybe take a walk and take photos or document your current favorites, like tv shows or books.

 

I'm a year and a half away from having an empty nest and I'm going through this a bit. In fact, it's the reason I'm taking a step back from project life for a bit. I have a ton of projects in mind though. I have a bunch of photos to scan and eventually scrap. I would love to start photographing items around the house and tell the stories behind them (same with our Christmas ornaments). We live in the city and things are always changing... I love looking back at how things have changed and have thought about doing a neighborhood photo book. An all about me book could be fun as well... you could include current things, plus tell past stories as well. I have one in progress that I need to work on again. There used to be a group on FaceBook with weekly prompts.

 

@rdjrneace Debbie, there are no longer children at our home but I do have grandchildren I see at least once a month.
I enjoy taking nature photos and photos to record some of the projects my husband works on ( he is presently building a "folly" in the backyard ). Also with my volunteer work in Aged Care when I help on outings and special events I take photos there also.

You might like to check out the blogs etc that give list of ideas for daily photos. They can be a good way to record the happenings of your life. I started doing this at the start of the year and was doing a theme for each week. I got too busy with other things and did not keep it up but I have done it some years ago and got through the whole year with taking a photo each day.
Here is my January page:

 

We were empty nesters until our daughter and young grandson moved in with us. I'm with some of the others, I love to photograph nature and just anything that catches my eye when I'm out and about. Things that probably wouldn't mean much to somebody else, but they moved me to photograph them. I don't always have my camera with me, but my phone takes awesome pictures and I photograph all kinds of things.

 

I'm not an empty nester. But, there was 9 years of marriage before munchkin came along with just dh and I, then us and the dog.

Things I photographed then:
Outings, sky, mountains, nature in general, kitchen creations, around the house, friends, atmosphere (Christmas tree lights with my book open to read by it, candle burning on the bathroom sink, etc), games we played, bowling, hobbies, the dog. I actually wish I'd done better at telling our story then. The trials of being full-time students and full-time employees. The enjoyment of sleeping in or going out without needing a babysitter. The things you take for granted b.k. (before kids).

Now, things like kitchen creations are fun to look at because I don't make some of them anymore, or I've developed a better recipe that we enjoy more, or whatever. Sometimes I see a photo and think - oh! I should make that again!

Around the house is fun because we've moved since then. I've been scanning lately, so this stuff is fresh in my mind. Seeing where I painted the ivy on our living room apartment walls to make it feel homey. The first time we bought a deep freezer. The first time I canned. Now, you may be in a forever home, but even forever homes change over time. I can see in photos of my grandparents house when they added the outdoor swing that we loved to lay on and watch the leaves, painted the barn after the family photos, moved the organ to make room for Grandma's for the blind tape player (It was big in those days! She would've loved Audible!). I can tell similar stories about my mother-in-law, my parents, my husband's grandma. Sometimes, it's the little things that change that I remember.

Nature photos still make me happy and if you saw my "camera roll" you'd see more nature photos when we go on a hike than photos with munchkin or DH and I.

Every person has a story that only they can tell. We can try to tell the story of those around us, but they are still supporting players. We don't know their innermost thoughts. If you are stuck, you could try one of those story books (I have one called The Story of a Lifetime) and see what photos and prompts you want to tell.

 

Debbie, I am sorry to read that you do not enjoy your job. One of the volunteer jobs I have been doing this year I ended up not liking, even to the point of hating it but... I decided to look for the points that I did sort enjoy and forget about the bad bits. I hope that you can find just something good about the work you do.

 

That's a huge bummer and I can totally see how that would affect your ability to see the beauty around you.... but don't forget that we don't only have to capture good memories. Maybe it would be good for you to vent about your job on a page or two as well. Then later when you are past the bad job, you might enjoy looking back and remembering this bad job experience and be happy that you're not in it anymore? There are actually some great products in the store recently for capturing the not-so-rosy moments of life too:



and Rachel Jefferies has a whole bunch of amazing Silent Battles bundles for some good art journaling pages:

 

I've never had children, just dogs but I have done what I called "A Day In My Life" before Project Life was even born. It was basically just taking a photo every single day. I did it for over 2 years then let up. However, I started up again this year.

When I first did it, I was working. Some days it would be a photo of all the paperwork on my desk. At least once a week I took a photo of the price of gas since a gas station was on the route I took to work. I often documented the weather... rain, snow, sunshine. Shots of sunrises or moonrises also made it in my books. I documented the changing of the seasons... fall color and the loss of leaves and the blooming of trees and flowers in the spring. Of course, any activities I took part in made it on those days.

This year I am retired and leading a much different life than I was 9 years ago. The dog I have now is just 18 months old so in the beginning of the year there were a lot of changes because of her growing. I've also been purging the house of junk so have been documenting that as well. Those boxes of donations, that dumpster in the driveway... yep, those are there. My cousin sold a house and bought a house. That is in there as well. In my purging, I have found stuff that belonged to my mother that I didn't even know was in the basement. Since most of it was in bad shape, I snapped a photo and got rid of it. Some of my childhood toys that are fondly remembered... snapped a photo and either donated or pitched depending on what kind of shape it was in. I have also documented things I have changed in the house. Last week a neighbor took down a tree. Since it changes the view from my window, I took pictures (zoom is wonderful!). Right now I'm not getting out a lot so I have had to stretch to find different stuff to photograph. Heck, I even took a photo of me on the day of my surgery.

Most of this is probably mundane stuff but it is my life. It is all what you make it. Doing this the first time made me realize that I live a nice life. One that I enjoy. I'm an introvert so being home makes me happy and I don't need to be on the go all the time.

 

@cookingmylife has been my inspiration for 2019. Take a look at her gallery and smile along with her! I love to journal. Have kept a diary for years (now dressed up as a bullet journal). I plan on doing a diary/scrapped book this year. What I do. What I love, what I enjoy. For fun, for me, and if no one likes it, I don't care. I love scrapping, love the creativity, and think it will be a fun project.

 

Thank you sweat-pea! I do try to record the everyday.

You will be amazed to know I am now journaling too! but on more internal stuff as opposed to what happened when. I used to use a desktop version of Momento (I'm pretty sure) but now it's only for the phone which I'm going to set up again so I get reminders during the day to record something and/or take a photo.

 

I think you might want to think of the things about your job you DO like. Is there a person you enjoy? Can you take a photo/s of things at your desk/station etc that you see daily? You might take a photo/s of the drive to work (pulling over!) and watch the seasons change or capture a traffic backup or the time you were behind a school bus? You could also find a way to visualize how you might photograph the enjoyment you get from your paycheck!!! etc etc etc

 

I take random photos. I'm also doing a memory book/journal and it's more of a journal than anything else. Photos are secondary. That being said, I do have a decent amount of photos in it. Haha.

I also do flashback pages and pages for movie reviews and such. Lemme know if you want any pics from mine!

 

I've also been known to take pictures of what I'm watching on TV. "Survivor" premieres and finales have made it in my books before. Just this year I have documented several funerals (Billy Graham and John McCain) as well as the return of the remains from Korea.

Just another thought I had!

 

I'm thankful my kid is still open to being photographed. He is 13 now. But I only do that when he is ok with it. He is also into sports so I photograph all his games. For other stuff, I will photograph with my phone so it's not obvious and that he isn't feeling like I'm a paparazzi LOL Even he isn't doing anything, any chance I can photograph him will become a good memory years from now.

And for laughs. I shared this with a scrapper friend some years ago

 

I was just thinking about this the other day. I am just about there - my "almost out of the house teen" doesn't do much Social Media herself, so I sometimes steal my friend's pics of our girls on social media. She isn't into getting photographed all that much either.

I've turned to mother nature a lot lately ... or my dogs. I feel like I repeat things when I scrap but I don't care ... scrapping and creating makes me happy so I just go with it.