David Rabin, my wife’s father, died recently after a terrible couple of years with Alzheimer’s. He was a doctor, a good father and all-around sweet man. (Here is his obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle.)

Born in 1930, his life spanned a wide range of photographic tools. As I put together a slide show in his honor, I scanned in formal B&W portraits made with a large format camera, yellowing square snapshots made with a Brownie-era box and dozens of 4×6 prints that came from the point-and-shoot cameras of recent years. I even had a few digital files from a few years ago before he got sick.

Photographs, of course, can’t capture the essence of a whole life, but they provide a welcoming taste for those who have lost a friend or a member of their family. The digital revolution has made serving up that taste so much easier that in many ways it has changed the way we mourn.

I’m used Soundslides to create the slide show. Take a look.

Here’s to you, David.