Why we should print our images
These days, everyone seems to take loads of photos and store them digitally and share easily and quickly online. Wonderful. We live in a digital age and this is the way our photos have graduated. Gone are the days where you have to lug a bulky camera and several films around with you. Now, your phone is your camera and it can edit and share your photos in an instant.
But your wedding photos are a completely different story. And here’s why…..
Our photos aren’t making it off our devices anymore. Infact, if you’re anything like me, they are clogging them up until your phone is unable to work under the strain and pleading with you to get more storage. Sometimes, you simply delete dozens of them just to make space – and that moment in time has gone before you’ve half looked at it or saved it. How many people back up their photos take the time to print our favourites? Or better yet, make an album of their baby’s first year or that trip to Thailand? I bet not many. These are little moments that make up a lifetime and we are letting them die in the cloud.
Digital files of your wedding
When our photos are sitting on our devices, they aren’t real. We can’t touch them or hold them in our hands. We can’t pull them off the shelf and flip through them. Unless your photos are printed and out in the real world, you don’t get to fully enjoy them. They’ll always be pixels floating around in cyberspace.
When it comes to photos you have taken professionally, it means your memories never really make it to real life. If you don’t take the time to bring your photos to life, whether it’s your wedding photos, newborn photos or family photos, your children will never enjoy them in the same way you enjoyed the printed photos your parents meticulously kept of various life milestones. Have you seen photos from your parent’s wedding day? How about your grandparent’s wedding? How special are those photos to you?
Priceless moments
We are in the age of technology and having the digital files from the professional shoot you have taken seems like the logical thing. If you have the digital files, you can do whatever you want with them. True. But the vast majority of couples do nothing with their digital files – they still have them on a usb five years later and making an album is something they perpetually ‘plan’ to do but never quite get round to.
This is more than a crying shame. The photos you paid hundreds for to mark a landmark occasion in your life, whether that’s your big day or a family portrait, are going to collect dust in a drawer.
Yes they are safe, yours to do with what you will, and if you remember you can plug in and have a look on your computer sometime. But, that’s not the best way to enjoy your memories.
Most professional photographers, including me at Catherine Evans Photography, will include a USB or online gallery of digital files in their packages. This can seem like a great way to enjoy your photos, but it’s not the be all and end all. An online gallery of digital files is great and it has its purpose. It means you can share your digital photos with friends and family who were at the wedding or to give them a first glimpse of your newborn baby at the click of a button. However, I believe that only opting for your photos in digital format is a mistake. In 10 years having a USB drive will be like having your photos on VHS tape. Technology changes so fast.
Photo albums are not a thing of the past
It makes a lot of timeless sense to also choose a hardcopy product when selecting your photography package. Make sure you get your photos off a hard drive and into the ‘real world’ where you can enjoy them. Order an album or prints from your photographer. Put some photos up on your walls or make art from them. Use them as thank yous and gifts. You’ve paid a lot from them now enjoy them in all their beautiful glory and for the art they really are. You never know. What if you misplace your USB the next time you move and there’s a chance your photos will be lost forever. An album is something we cherish and hold dear to our hearts. It sits on display and asks to be flipped through. It’s something you keep in a safe place and bring with you through the next stages of your life.
Seeing you through the generations
A high quality purposefully designed album will last generations. Your children will flip through it and see how hot their parents were once at their wedding, or how truly adorable they were when they were a baby. Albums last a lifetime and can be passed down to future generations. They’re heirlooms, not just a piece of old technology collecting dust in a corner.
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