We don’t print our photos anymore. Now that we have digital technology, we don’t
have to. We can keep our photos on our
computer, share them online and on the cloud.
Times have changed…printing isn't crucial anymore. We can get anything we need right off the
internet, right?
Why You Should Print
I’m going to make a case for printing. While I believe photos are for sharing, and I
love sharing online as much as the next person, I also believe our photos are for
remembering. There is no better way to remember and re-live
your memories than printing your most important photos and keeping them in a
place where you can view them and enjoy them!
Digital has created a “disposable” mindset in our
society. Over 85% of all digital images
taken never leave the camera and are never seen again. We delete pictures on our memory cards to
make room for new ones. Many of us fill
up memory cards, and simply buy a new one and put the old one in a drawer for
storage.
What’s more, people tend to forget about their photos after
they post them online. We’ve become a
“live in the moment” society.
We take a lot more pictures these days than in the days of
film. But there will probably be more
“hard copy” photos that survive into the next century from the 1920’s than from
today. It’s hard to imagine that, isn’t
it? But consider these facts:
·
Technology failures are inevitable. Computers crash, external hard drives crash, and
memory cards fail. It’s not a matter of
IF, it’s a matter of WHEN.
·
Hosting services go out of business. They also make mistakes. Accounts do get deleted by accident.
·
Technological obsolescence is a fact. Technology changes quickly, and we’re constantly
moving on to the latest and greatest. If
you saved your photos to DVD for backup, don’t count on computers being able to
read them 30 years from now. You need to
re-record as technology changes.
·
And when your time on earth comes to an end,
chances are your relatives aren’t going to save your old computer, and with it,
all your digital images.
The printed photo, unlike the digital photo, isn’t subject
to computer crashes or technological obsolescence. And it doesn’t lend itself to out of sight,
out of mind.
Leaving a Legacy
Of course, with everything stored on the internet these
days, chances are future generations will be able to find out quite a bit of
information about us and our daily lives.
However, in most cases, the photos saved on the internet aren’t saved in
high resolution. And more importantly,
what will be missing are the solid pieces
of your story, as told by you. Your printed
photos, coupled with your stories, is your legacy to leave behind for future
generations! So please consider printing
your most important photos…the ones that have stories that go with them. Preserve those stories alongside of your
photos, preferably in an album, or at least in an archival photo storage
box. The next generation WILL thank
you.
Michelle Nahom has
been working with people and their photos since 2003, offering photo management
services. She currently works for APPO,
the Association of Personal Photo Organizers, building a network of independent
business owners who provide solutions to those who are overwhelmed by their
printed and digital photos, memorabilia and old home movies. As a photo organizer, her favorite project
was a WWII military memoir for a client.
She blogs about photos and memory preservation at www.thepowerofphotos.blogspot.com, and you can also find her on Twitter @CPhotoSolns.
How often do you go through your pictures on your computer? My granddaughter and I though love to go through all the scrapbooks I've made for her mother of all her kids from the first baby shower through to each tree cutting each year. It's become an annual tradition that we make the scrapbooks together, come up with the comments together and share what a wonderful year it was with her parents, brothers and aunts and uncles (as well as Grandpa and Grandma!) We include a cd with all the pictures as a backup, but the scrapbooks are what are looked at over and over.
ReplyDelete