PRINT.
Let’s face it, cameras, they’re everywhere. In your phone, your tablet, maybe you have a point-and-shoot. We find ourselves taking more and more photos every year, which are all digital files with very few tangible prints being produced. I’m even guilty sometimes of the selfies on Instagram, Facebook and on occasion Twitter.
Do you know the statistics on how many people store their photos solely on a phone or a computer? What about how many out there have not printed a photo in more than 12 months? How many do not have photo albums or how many no longer print photos at all? It’s scary to even think about this but, the numbers will amaze you and may even scare you!
To some, a “picture” will only be good for the moment. After you’re done showing off the new kitten, new car, new home, or the new funny face your child made the other day, those will no longer have any real meaning and get “deleted” to make room for more photos that have little meaning as well in a week or two. So, what is to become of all the pictures that are being taken today? Simple…. they will be gone forever. To most, digital images will no longer be important enough to keep in printed form!
As a child, I grew up in a film only world. My parents purchased a roll of film, took photographs and then brought them to a 1-hour place to have them developed and printed. They were put into photo albums that we as children could look back on and cherish those memories. Photographs represented our lives as a family and we salvaged all we could.
A Google search showed that 1 in 50,000 photographs taken today actually ends up going into printed form. We must remember the importance and value of printed, framed and mounted photographs in our lives for the generations after us. Children will want to see images of themselves around the house, newlyweds have fond memories when they see their wedding photos on the mantle or walls, and your most beloved pets are sealed in time…all thanks to the power of print.
Some have countless number of pictures stored on some type of external drive, that has no organization. And while you have made some effort to clean and organize it, it still is an overwhelming task to do. What about the individuals who store on media that is no longer supported (i.e. floppy discs)? Don’t you think that eventually those CD’s, DVD’s or USB drives you have will become obsolete? You are probably asking yourself, “where are those media items?” Simple….in a drawer someplace.
Speaking from personal experience I can tell you the importance of print and the value it brings to me because in my home you will find photographs. Real, honest to goodness prints. My husband LOVES to have photos hanging in our home of family from various moments in time and if you ask him why he feels the need to cover every bare wall in our home with photos, his answer is simple-Printed photos are memories that you will have forever. And when we have family over to the house, it brings our heart joy to know the smiles we bring to their faces from these printed photos was well worth every penny.
So, let me ask you this-where are YOUR photographs? Stuck on a disc or store on the cloud, hopefully, perhaps? Why don’t you purchase that $600 canvas to display in your home that your Professional Photographer worked so hard to produce for you? That will be a “one of a kind” work of ART and an heirloom piece for you to have and remember that little slice of your life. It is something that will be passed from generation to generation and the only visual way your heirs will see what you looked like and the love and emotions you expressed the instant that image was captured. I guess it wasn’t that important then huh? Digital was cheap. It just didn’t seem that important.
PRINT because lost memories are expensive.
