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This is an image of my ancestor. Apparently he mailed the Stanton Photo Company twenty-five cents and an original photo and received back six of these cardboard reproductions, which were mailed to family. This image is faded badly, and is about as wide as a quarter. Originally it was a novelty; now though, this is the oldest photograph we have of an ancestor. It’s important.

This is something I think about a lot as a wedding photographer. The fact of the matter is that there are only two events that bring entire families together: weddings and funerals. These events are the only opportunity we really have to document our extended family, and the opportunity is often missed due to more pressing matters, and more powerful emotions.

That doesn’t change the fact that weddings are an incredible opportunity to document who we are for future generations — they’ll look back at these images to try and understand where they come from. Take advantage of this opportunity!

This is most critical with our older family members. I frequently see great-aunts and uncles at weddings, and the fact that they require a wheelchair and oxygen tank to get out of the house doesn’t deter them. It’s hugely important to get let your photographer know something about these folks so he can work to include them in the wedding coverage.

Even more important: make sure that these images are printed in an archival manner. DVDs of jpeg files are not archival — if you throw them in a shoebox for 50 years (similar to the treatment the image above received) you’re going to lose the images on it. Having images printed on real black-and-white paper is a great step, as is ordering a wedding album that includes a few pages that cover the extended family.

Possibly the best option is something Gary Fong used to emphasize to photographers: having two albums made, so that the story of the wedding day could be told without interruption, and the formals and other images that are important from a family history perspective also have their home. It costs more now, but I’d hate to think what my father would be willing to pay in order to gain access to a few dozen photographs like this one that have been swallowed by time.