This is where I stop and tell you to stop doing this. Don’t rely on your computer to store those photos forever. Computers are unreliable, they crash without warning. External hard drives are just as finicky. Copying them to a disc isn’t much better, nothing beats a photo you can hold in your hand. Nothing is better than a photo hanging on your wall that makes you smile every time you walk by.
The photos you print don’t need to be perfect. I am guilty of this, as a photographer, I thought even my snapshots needed to be perfect, they don’t. These photos are snapshots of your life. The day little miss learned to ride a bike, the day he flew his first kite. The birthday he got that scooter he had been begging for, the Christmas they got a dog. None of these photos need to be technically perfect to print, they are perfect in every other way. They take you back to that day. You remember how the baby used to crinkle her nose when she would smile, you remember how he wouldn’t wear any other shirt but the obnoxious Yo Gaba Gaba neon orange t-shirt.
There is something about sitting down on the floor and looking through a box of photos that have been stored for years. To hold the photo in your hand brings emotion, smiles, tears, laughter and conversation. As you pass the photo from one person to the next they all have something to say. Even if it’s just a giggle or a sigh...it brings out the connections between family and friends.
A printed photograph is more powerful and less vulnerable than the photograph being stored in cyber space or on your hard drives.
I now want to put a little idea in your head. What if you printed ten photos from the last few months you haven’t shared with family via internet? What if you mailed these photos to your parents or your siblings? What a treat for them? I know it would make my day to get an envelope full of photos from loved ones. Don’t forget yourself, print as many photos as you can afford. Whether you display them or tuck them away in a photo box is your choice. I prefer to display my photos but also have hundreds stored at the top of my closet. I found my daughter in there awhile back looking through them, I sat with her for a long while. I was so thankful for those photos and that time with my daughter.
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