There were two words that could always unify my sister and I (at least for a moment) — Photo Opp!
Every mention of a photo opp was met with spontaneous eye rolls and groans as mom did her best to ignore our bemoaning and urged us with great zeal into position.
Stand here. Put your arm around each other. Smile — smile pretty. (Pretend you are having fun.)
Snap.
In a moment, it was over. The photo was taken and we could once again resume a look of discontent and go back to whatever it was we wanted to be doing instead. (Unless, of course, one or more of us was less than cooperative and had to be convinced to smile nicely.)
It was only a moment, but to us it was torture. Sheer torture. Which is silly because thanks to mom we have shelves and shelves of photo albums capturing trips, events, birthdays and more. We can look back with a knowing smile and tease each other about fashion choices and reminisce about all the fun we had. And we did have a lot of fun.
Yes, mom tortured us by making us smile for every photo opp imaginable. But for that I thank her. And as I beg and plead with my own daughters to smile nicely for the camera, I mutter apologizes under my breath to my mother. The circle of life.
While I now thank mom for all of the photos she has taken and continues to take, after transferring a long-lost family vacation video to DVD I couldn’t help but to poke fun at her… Just one more time.
On one family trip, dad shot roughly 30 minutes of video. In that 30 minutes, he captured 10 such photo opps. Ahh yes, video proof of the dreaded photo opp. And naturally, I had to make a montage.
(Yes, even when my kid sister hurt herself I knew, the photo must go on.)
The constant photo taking served my sister and I well. Not only do we have smiling happy photos, but we both learned (eventually) that it served us better to just smile every time we saw a camera come out. Whip out a camera in front of my sister or I, and you will see a smile flash. It’s just easier and the photo looks better for it!
This trip down memory lane was made possible by transferring our old 8 mm tapes to digital and DVD with YesVideo. My whole family has enjoyed reminiscing. If you have video footage locked away on an old format, do something about it. Relive your memories (and possible photo opps) with YesVideo.
Check out more of my YesVideo memories:
Giveaway
One lucky winner will receive a $75 credit to YesVideo to use toward converting your old home videos to digital and DVD. (Note credit is good online only, not at retail locations.)
To enter – Please use the Rafflecopter form below to take advantage of your entry opportunities.
Contest ends February 5, 2014.
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keely hostetter says
January 22, 2014 at 12:01 pmMy kids when they were toddlers
Katrina larose says
January 22, 2014 at 1:02 pmThe betas from when I was little! Christmas Eve at my Grandparents house with 500 relatives squeezing into a little one bedroom apartment. Me singing “take me out to the ball game” at 18 mos old with my die hard Yankee fan grandfather. Christmas morning when my dad would PLUG IN his video recorder and turn on the overhead spotlight on us first thing in the morning lol! Not only seeing relatives that have passed, but, showing my son and my nieces and nephews how “cool” their parents looked!
Wendi S says
January 22, 2014 at 9:25 pmI have VHS of my babies. So I really want to see them again. Thanks for sharing your video. Your Mom was so funny like my Mom. It made me really miss my Mom. You and your sister were adorable!
Robin P says
January 22, 2014 at 9:46 pmMy wedding is still on VHS. We used to watch it every year on our anniversary until we sold our VCR at a garage sale.
Candi S. says
January 22, 2014 at 11:04 pmI would love to see my wedding. We have lost 4 family members since our wedding and it would be so nice to see them again.
Anne N. says
January 23, 2014 at 12:25 amMy birthday parties when I was little!
Mary Happymommy says
January 23, 2014 at 7:21 amI’d like to see videos of when my oldest child was born.
Trisha W. says
January 23, 2014 at 11:57 amI love this! I take pictures here and there and my kids don’t really like to cooperate. I had to laugh as I read your post and watched the video clip. Hopefully down the line they will appreciate my pictures.
Trisha W. says
January 23, 2014 at 11:58 amBut to answer your question, I’d love to get a copy of my wedding on DVD. We never received a copy that my Uncle-in-law took 20 years ago. First baby clips would be great too.
angie pruden says
January 23, 2014 at 2:58 pmmy son when he was little
Oh, The Places We Travel says
January 23, 2014 at 4:24 pmI love how you also have a camera hanging around your neck! You can never capture too many memories on video or in photos of your vacations.
jen says
January 25, 2014 at 10:33 pmGuilty 🙂
Beeb says
January 24, 2014 at 12:16 pmI have an 8mm film from when I was a toddler that no one in my family has ever seen, it’s on my list to get that converted at some point!
Michelle says
January 24, 2014 at 1:41 pmMy son makes goofy faces when I take pictures of him. He gets so tired of them! lol
HilLesha says
January 24, 2014 at 2:10 pmWhat a wonderful way to preserve memories!
Jennifer Speed says
January 24, 2014 at 2:37 pmDefinitely our trip to Savannah,GA
Donna says
January 24, 2014 at 3:37 pmI have so many vhs tapes that needs converted.
Jennifer @ My Sweet Sanity says
January 24, 2014 at 4:42 pmMy wedding would be great to see on video again. Still have it on the little tapes.
Digna D. says
January 24, 2014 at 5:50 pmI don’t have any for converting. Your transfer turned out great. I can relate to the picture taking. My son hates it and half the time I can’t get him to smile. He does like to make goofy faces.
Ashley - Embracing Beauty says
January 24, 2014 at 5:52 pmI’d love to watch any home videos…especially those with my grandpa who has since passed away. I miss him.
Sara Phillips says
January 24, 2014 at 7:16 pmMy Mom didn’t do much videography, but my wedding is on VHS and I would love to watch that again!
Nicole Brady says
January 24, 2014 at 9:10 pmMy folks have some videos from when we were in high school (that’s when we got our first video camera). I have no idea where any of them are but would love to see those again! (Although I think most of the footage is of my brothers and the wrestling team.)
Darlene Jones-Nelson says
January 24, 2014 at 11:12 pmI have never seen my husbands parents video’s yet! I would love to.
Shell Feis says
January 24, 2014 at 11:13 pmI’ve transferred some of my home videos using YesVideo & LOVE their service! I want to have some more transferred, like some of my old videos I made with friends where we were singing Spice Girls music in our jammies. I can just imagine sharing those videos on Facebook &tagging them all!
jen says
January 25, 2014 at 10:27 pmHehehehe – I wanna see your Spice Girls Video 🙂
Tammilee Tillison says
January 25, 2014 at 1:05 amThere are some fun videos from growing up I would love to see again.
Shannon Baas says
January 25, 2014 at 2:52 pmThe ones of our family vacations.
Margaret Smith says
January 25, 2014 at 5:56 pmI’d like the ones of my children when they were little.
Becky Greenly says
January 25, 2014 at 7:16 pmChild hood videos for sure
Tari Lawson says
January 26, 2014 at 7:26 amI would love to see my childhood videos again.
Amanda says
January 28, 2014 at 1:06 pmMy son’s first steps and first birthday party. Wonderful memories
Tammy says
January 28, 2014 at 9:27 pmMy husband’s childhood home videos
John Joseph says
January 28, 2014 at 9:48 pmour family vacation
Sarah says
January 28, 2014 at 10:43 pmA school performance.
Sarah L says
January 29, 2014 at 1:37 amVacation videos.
Thanks for the contest.
tracy simms says
January 29, 2014 at 2:10 amour wedding –on vhs tape..14 years ago..thanks
Lauren-Olivia Wood says
January 29, 2014 at 3:17 amOld Christmas video tapes will be great on dvd!
Ann B. says
January 29, 2014 at 1:29 pmMy older girls when they were little…
I would love love love to have them on DVD
Jessamine D. says
January 29, 2014 at 2:34 pmVideo of my 1st birthday. 🙂
Jean says
January 29, 2014 at 9:39 pmThe videos I took of my girls when they were infants and toddlers. They grow up so fast!
Leslie says
January 29, 2014 at 9:52 pmI would love to see old videos from when I graduated from high school and college.
Sue E says
January 30, 2014 at 9:40 pmI don’t have that many videos, and the couple of tapes that we do have, are not clear – they are grainy.
Plus no one I know has a tape/VHS player anymore!
But our tapes are of holidays & birthday parties – would LOVE to see the again & relive those memories!!
Jim W. says
February 1, 2014 at 10:30 amI have videos of my dog, who has since passed away. I’d love to see them again.
Kim Ripley says
February 2, 2014 at 3:37 pmI have wedding video footage on tape that I would LOVE to see!
Jacqueline W. says
February 3, 2014 at 4:12 pmI have a few tapes of when my children were little. Plus, my boyfriend has a few of his son. I’ve always meant to get them transferred on to DVD’s.
Jaque R. says
February 4, 2014 at 6:35 pmMy siblings and I as children. 🙂 Thank you.
Denise C says
February 4, 2014 at 8:59 pmI have some from high school that I’d like to watch again.
Britnee says
February 4, 2014 at 10:44 pmOh I’d love to see my sister freak out the first time she met santa again.
Laura says
February 5, 2014 at 12:26 pmI can’t wait to see footage from my dance recitals!
amanda Whitley says
February 5, 2014 at 3:41 pmi can’t wait to see our disney world trip again.
laurie says
February 5, 2014 at 8:09 pmI have video of my sons growing up I haven’t seen in a long time
Jaclyn Reynolds says
February 5, 2014 at 8:11 pmVideos of my children as toddlers!
DanV says
February 5, 2014 at 8:54 pmI’d like to see my old home summer camp videos
Sarah B says
February 5, 2014 at 9:38 pmVHS Movies from when I was a kid
Buddy Garrett says
February 5, 2014 at 9:50 pmI would like to transfer movies of our daughter’s birthday parties and Christmas celebrations.