Holiday Photographs

J. L. Harland • June 9th, 2020

We all have a store of holiday photographs and looking at these brings back memories and emotions associated with the holiday. You may have boxes of snaps from your childhood and later or a digital store which you can access. It’s worth looking back and using those memories to stimulate your writing. It could be memoir or the basis for a new story. So, dig out those photographs and start thinking.

Here are five ways to re-live holiday memories and perhaps produce some writing in the process.

1. Can you remember where a photograph was taken? What do you remember? Sights? Smells? Emotions? Take five minutes and write down a list of things. Take one thing from your list and write about it in more depth.

2. If your photograph is from a holiday in your childhood try writing about it from the viewpoint of a child. Relive the day. What was so special about that day? Imagine you are that child again and describe your feelings. Excitement? Disappointed because your holiday was nearly over? Achievement – perhaps you learnt how to swim or fish or ride a bicycle?

3. Who was with you? Was it a good experience? Perhaps it was taken on a school trip and you were bound by rules and regulations? Maybe it was the first time you’d been abroad or taken your children abroad? Choose one person in the photograph and write about the physical appearance and then about your relationship.

4. Imagine you are re-visiting the place in ten or twenty years into the future. How have things changed? Will they have changed? What is likely to stay the same? Write a description or story based on your thoughts. Or go back in time and do the same.

5. Choose one photograph and write your diary entry for that day. If you already keep a journal perhaps you could look back and see what you recorded and what was significant about that day, or place or holiday.

So, even though you may be stuck on the sofa, your memories can transport you to other places. Enjoy those memories and re-live them by writing a piece of memoir, fiction or poetry.