One baby photo, thousands today

By Joan Janzen

Here’s a question for all our Baby Boomer readers: How many photos were taken of you during your first year of life?

This is the one and only image of me during my first year of existence. I’m the baby in the arms of my mother, Mary Schwengler, with my older sister, Val, in front. It’s a stark contrast to today, when thousands of photos and videos are taken of a child during their first year of life. SUBMITTED PHOTO

As a fellow Baby Boomer, I am sharing the one and only baby photo of myself. This image is the only evidence of my existence as a baby, followed by one more as a two-year-old in a group photo. Perhaps it was because I was the youngest in the family and photos were not a priority. However, it is interesting that there is no shortage of photos of our horses during that same time period. At any rate, it is a stark contrast to childhood photos taken in 2026.

General data and parent surveys show today’s parents accumulate thousands to tens of thousands of photos and videos of a single child during their first year of life. Fortunately, there was more evidence of my childhood documented starting at the age of four, after my older sisters began taking photos.