The joys of more than a few photo albums

A few weeks ago, my wife, Betsey, and I were fortunate enough to take our first trip abroad since the onslaught of COVID. We returned to Italy, one of our favorite destinations, where we focused on Venice and the surrounding area.

I like taking photos, so, using my cellphone, I took about 3,500. On a typical two-week vacation, I often take about 2,000 photos, so 3,500 seemed somewhat excessive. And what could I possibly do with so many?

I may be one of the last Rhode Islanders who still enjoys assembling photo albums. I will print 700 of the better photos – seven per page – to mount in a beautiful, handmade Italian album. Then I’ll stick it on a shelf or inside a cabinet – if I can find one with room.

Over the decades, my penchant for album-making has become far more than a hobby. I have created more than 100 albums, holding perhaps 35,000 photos. I have never had a reason to count them, but I recently compiled an index so I can rediscover that favorite trip to Israel or remind myself what I did three summers ago or last January.

Why have I created so many albums? Do I fear that I will forget much of the distant, or recent, past, or that our kids or grandkids will do the same? Who, after all, would be much interested in what Betsey and I have experienced during nearly 40 years together?

My basic motivation is to become a more accomplished photographer. As much as I love art museums and art books, I’ve never had much interest in the work of master photographers. Do I endeavor to craft a near-perfect image, one that captures not only a moment, but a week, a year or even a decade? Perhaps.

And while I occasionally enjoy paging through some of my better albums, I’m much more interested in my next adventure.

So how did I develop such a photographic obsession? It’s easy to blame my late mother, Madeline, who created her first album after Theo, my older twin, and I were born.

Mom’s older brother, George, became a professional photographer and a highly accomplished art collector, but I doubt that Mom ever owned a camera. Rather, she relied on my late father, Eugene, to take photos, though this never became one of his considerable accomplishments. Mom also saved all kinds of paper records. For example, nearly 1,000 letters!

Eventually, reflecting frequent and distant travels, Mom created 30 or 40 photo albums.

After our parents passed away, Theo, my sister Betty and I agonized over what to do with these albums. We had not participated in most of these voyages, and we had limited space for our own ever-expanding collections.

Ultimately, we decided that we would save only some of the best albums, as well as some of the best photos from others.

No doubt my obsession with creating photo albums also evolved from some of my childhood passions for collecting, especially stamps, but also postcards and books.

I collected photos long before I began taking them. In 1969, when I studied in Florence, Italy, during my junior year of college, I foresaw a career as an art history professor, so I bought slides in museums shops to eventually show my students.

Gradually, I began taking my own slides of paintings, sculptures and buildings, and I still have a collection of perhaps 30,000, all neatly organized.

Is it fair to blame part of my obsession with photo albums on Betsey? I began assembling my first, in 1983, soon after we met. After we were married, and moved far from our parents, and welcomed Molly and Michael into this world, my album infatuation steadily increased.

Travels near and far soon worsened my infatuation. These travels may have included a few days in Maine, an afternoon in Boston or a walk around the block.

I often take portraits of our home, both its exterior and interior. Flowers are an easy subject, but given my love of good food, any meal or snack can present a compositional challenge.

So what will become of my ever-proliferating album collection? Of course Molly and Michael will be welcome to whatever they want, but they too will face physical as well as emotional constraints.

Having been deeply involved with the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association for decades, I would be pleased to donate some albums to its wonderful archival collection. And I’ve also been active on the board of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and I believe that a large number of my albums belong in its encyclopedic collection.

Since I also care about Temple Beth-El’s important Braude Library, perhaps I should also donate a few albums there.

Or perhaps I exaggerate my own importance when I occasionally refer to myself as “Rhode Island’s last epic photo-album maker.” But one thing I am sure of: virtually all of my albums record countless blessings.

Yes, I have suffered many disappointments and occasional defeats, but my life has been filled with much goodness, privilege, joy and wonder.

Taking photos is almost always fun, often quite challenging and occasionally thrilling. And more often than not, the results are my quite tangible expressions of thanksgiving.

GEORGE M. GOODWIN, of Providence, is the editor of Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes.