3 Story Starter Ideas

So I recently had an idea to start a series on my Facebook page & Instagram called Monday Memories (debuting tomorrow).  The idea was to share one or more photos that represent a story and then tell the story behind the photo.  This is just to demonstrate that sometimes the story is obvious, like a birthday, wedding, graduation, etc.  But sometimes the story is something that happened at the event, something related to a person’s personality (maybe a habit they had or a special bond) or maybe it is a place that is special to you.  

Take these three photos, for instance.  All three were taken on the same trip at different times.  My grandmother, aunt, cousin & I drove from Texas to Missouri to visit extended family one summer vacation.  

Photo #1

So the first picture is somewhat obvious – a friend of the family is teaching me how to make a Jacob’s Ladder with string.  Now that is the actual interpretation of the picture, but you could also tell a story about how different things are today with kids having cell phones, tablets and computer games versus playing with a piece of string!

Photo #2

Now this photo is really just a picture of me and my cousin, Janet, with some of my grandmother’s extended family.  I do have their names written down & have included this picture on a page about that trip.  That takes care of the who, what, where and when, but what you don’t see from the picture is that during the time we were there, there was a carnival in town and the gentleman in the picture took us to play games & ride the rides.

Unfortunately there aren’t any pictures of us at the carnival but when I see this picture, that is the part I remember.  For kids our age, that was a highlight of the trip.

Photo #3

Now for the final photo of this group.  This is me & my cousin at the Texas State Line on the way home from this trip.  I don’t remember how long we had been in the car at this point, but I know we were ready to be done.  Now you could simply caption this with “We’re Home!”, but you could also say something about how it was the end of June (in Texas) and we were barefoot and the pavement was HOT!

But the story I think of to wrap up this trip was the fact that we had taken coloring books & crayons on the trip to keep us occupied.  Well, it was so hot in the car, my box of brand new 64 count crayons melted.  I know if you were a kid back then, that was traumatic!

If you love photos and want to try memory keeping or scrapbooking or even just want to post a couple of family stories on social media, remember that there are multiple ways to start.  Anything can spark a memory; a photo, a quote, a place, the list goes on and on.  These are your story starters.  Every once in a while, try going beyond the basics and tell the story you don’t see.

If you are interested in receiving more memory keeping ideas, please subscribe to my blog.  I will send you a handout with three more Story Starter Ideas now and you will also receive my newsletter to help you with saving, organizing and sharing your photos and family stories.  

If you would like one-on-one help with your photos, please leave me a message on the Contact Us page for a free consultation.

Thanks for stopping by!

Machelle