Wanted: Your Photographs

As you can tell, this Blog enjoys photographs. There is something about an image that when used just the right way can help to tell the story. I've been fortunate to accumulate a lot of old photographs, and postcards of Sturbridge from times gone by, and since my arrival here a few years ago, I've taken my camera with me most everywhere I've gone. who knows, in 50 years some one will fall upon them and remark, "Wow. Things haven't changed much." or just the opposite.

Photographs are recorded history. They show the dress, the architecture, the landscape and the people of an area. They preserve it for us to view years later. We can tell much more from the photographs as well, things that the camera didn't quiet capture with the light. Things like emotion. Happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, contentment and joy are some of the feelings one can pickup from a photograph.

Starting today, I want to open the blog to you and your photographs. The photographs can be old family images taken in Sturbridge at anytime, or recent ones. You can do one of two things when submitting your images:

1. Submit them via email to aroundsturbridge@gmail.com. Try to make the digitalized version of your photograph in the best resolution possible. If it is old, and has signs of age, don't worry, I can usually bring it back. Include the location the photograph was taken, the date, or approximate date, the identity of any persons in the image.
2. Submit the photograph as outlined above, and include a paragraph or two about the photo. Be creative!

Either way, please identify yourself. If you do not want your name used when the photo is posted, then let me know, and choose a pseudonym.

So, what do I plan to do with the images? For starters I want to post them here, with your words, or captions. I've found that this blog is read by people all over the country, and in several foreign places as well. Your photographs will do a great deal in promoting the area and sharing "back home" to those overseas, or transplanted elsewhere. So, continue to click the little envelope at the bottom of each post, and send off the ones you like to others.

Eventually, I plan to put my many old images into book form. If you would like your old images included, let me know.

Every so often I will choose one of the best images and make it the background beneath title of this Blog, and at the end of the year the best recent photo, and the best old image will be chosen and a nifty prize will be awarded.

By the way, the photograph at the top of this posting was taken many years ago on a front porch somewhere in Sturbridge. Click on the image for a larger view. If you can help to identify the location, or the people in the photograph, I would appreciate it. I wrote about how an image can convey things other than what the light transmits through the lens. Can you see what I mean in this photograph? What else is it saying.