use photos to remember someone who died

5 Ways to Use Photos to Remember Someone Who Died

Our need to document our human experience goes back to the beginning of time. We’ve been creating pictures to share our stories far longer than we have been sharing our stories with words. This drive to document and leave a legacy means that we have centuries of history to discover and explore. We no longer need to paint on stone walls or use specially designed slide projectors. Here are five ways to use photos to remember someone who died.

How to Use Photos to Remember Someone Who Died in a Traditional Slideshow

Way back when we used to have actual slideshows, like with a projector and little itty-bitty slides, it was crazy-town to organize this. I remember those heart dropping moments when a carefully organized slide holder went crashing to the floor. Ugh. It still hurts. If you are dreading putting together a slideshow for your parent or grandparent, you may be remembering those feelings. I have good news for you! It’s not that hard anymore, by a long shot. Before you jump into creating your slideshow here are a few things to do…

  1. Decide on the photos you want to include
  2. Check with family if there are any you missed
  3. Choose your order
  4. Putting your photos in order
  5. Determine how you will display it (tv screen, computer monitor, Zoom screen share)

From experience, I can tell you that taking the time to work through this list will streamline your project and make things so much easier. When you decide to use photos to remember someone who died, the hardest part is usually deciding which pictures to use. I've created many slideshows with tears streaming down my face. So don't be shy about letting it out.

The shortest path to a completed slideshow these days is Canva. If you aren’t using it yet, don’t fret. It’s intuitive and user friendly. Here is a crash course on how to use it. For slideshows, I recommend using the Youtube preset size or using the presentation preset size. From there it’s dropping your photos in. I recommend doing this one by one so you don’t have to dig through your uploads. Don’t forget your title slide! End slides are nice, too, for closure and letting people know it’s done.

Create Video from Slideshow with Music

Continuing on with our Canva tool, you can create a lovely video to share using the same design you created for the slideshow. There are options to add music, animate the slides, and more. I suggest setting the slide duration to 15 seconds per slide based on the last few projects I’ve worked on. Once you are ready to download it’s as simple as clicking the video option to download your video. To share with family and friends you can upload the video as an unlisted video on Youtube. This video will be an on-demand way to use photos to remember someone who died.

How to Use Photos to Remember Someone Who Died Using Memory Collection

In my experience, the greatest outpouring of stories comes when someone dies. This kind of event causes a cascade effect in the people who knew the person to want to share their stories of them. Along with the stories usually come photos and now videos. The onslaught of information and files can be overwhelming in a time when you really need space and peace.

Memory Collection is a service designed to help you take the guesswork out of the how, what, where, etc of collecting these photographs and stories. Many companies provide something similar and offer unique ways of documenting a loved one’s life. If you know you want to do something like this but aren’t sure how to get started, please book a complimentary call with me and we can get you moving in the right direction.

Including Photos in a Memorial Guest Book

Ah, the traditional guest book. I imagine that the original intent of the guest book was to gather addresses from attendees to then send thank you notes post-event. These days, thank you notes seem to be a thing of the past (not that I agree with that). Why not add in a little personalization to the whole thing?

While the printing cost ended up being very steep, creating a custom guest book with pictures of the loved one and space to leave stories was one of my favorite projects. This can be replicated with much more economical printing options. The idea was to have space for the name, memory, and address of the attendee. That way the family has everything right in one place.

Go Analog and Get Prints

For prints, you can always hit your favorite retail store to use their printing services. Believe it or not, there are still local businesses that specialize in photo printing beyond Walmart. Try going local if you aren’t going digital. Personally, I have a hard time remembering to frame those printed photos and then actually hang the frames. I know, it’s crazy, you can laugh. 

My favorite place to use right now is Mixtiles. I've been using it to very inexpensively get images printed for my kids to be able to see family and places they have visited. The best part? No nails, no measuring, and no holes in the walls when I want to move them around. Yes, you can change them up and move them around. Very cool!

The End

I hope you've gotten a few ideas about using photos to remember someone who died. These suggestions can be used in a variety of circumstances. As always, I recommend keeping things simple, stay focused on the human in front of you, and listen. If you are looking for more ways to remember someone who has died, this article may help.

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