Kodak Moments like the Squirrel Vacation Picture

Most people love taking pictures to catalog life’s major events, (a multi-million dollar scrapbooking industry has evolved as a result). But, do we sometimes inadvertently catch a better story than the one we were actually trying to capture on film? And, if so, do we even realize it?

The recent popularity of the Squirrel Vacation Picture is the perfect example. By now, most of you have probably heard the story. Husband and wife, Jackson and Melissa Brandts, were taking a family picture at Banff National Park in Canada when a friendly little squirrel popped up on the rocks right in front of their camera. Several snapshots, a National Geographic photo contest and a lot of laughs later and they’re on the "Today" show telling the story.

Situations like that one, where the phenomenon is so blatantly obvious, are obviously few and far between; however, I think there are far more incredulous underlying stories in our pictures than we may realize. Have you ever been passively looking through pictures (group shots especially) and notice there is something else happening which wasn’t even the focal point of the picture?

For example, the other day my girlfriend Catherine was casually perusing her Facebook pictures (you know the occasional inventory we all take to ensure you don’t need to de-tag yourself in anything, especially when someone new and potentially special has just requested to be your friend). While doing so, she noticed a couple of things she hadn’t previously. For instance, in several group shots, she saw a former love interest in the background clearly focused on her (what does that mean?) and she also noticed a particular chemistry and consistency that distinctly radiated through the pictures of two of her closest friends (friends who have never dated, but from the looks of it probably should).

If a picture is worth a thousand words, perhaps it might behoove all of us to look at the story underneath the story in our pictures. It could speak volumes to you. Your old “Kodak Moments” (we older Generation Y’rs grew up declaring things as “Kodak Moments”. Since we rarely print pictures these days, perhaps the better expression now is “Facebook Moments”), may tell you another story entirely.