I'm begging you!
There was a time when photos were cherished and placed carefully in photo albums to document families and remember the past. Are those days gone?
Digital images are perfect to share on social media, use as profile photos and carry around on your phone. I offer a personalized mobile app with some of my session packages for that very reason! However, I am here in your inbox to remind you - actually BEG you - to print your photographs. They deserved to become physical objects that you can hold in your hands, place in a book or on your wall. By printing your photos, they can be enjoyed not only for your lifetime, but as lasting proof that you existed.
I look at the photos I create for my clients as a way to freeze time. When those photos are printed, they draw you in to that moment: the feelings, the experience, the touch, sound and smell. When you walk by a photo on your wall or turn the page in an album to see it, you re-experience that moment. It is a way for your family, and children in particular, to remember the past, acknowledge growth and change.
I recently came across the concept of PhotoTherapy. Judy Weiser is a therapist and one of its earliest pioneers. "When I decided to start using clients' ordinary personal snapshots and family album photos as stimuli, I discovered that their responses to my questions about their pictures permitted connection with unconscious and deeply-buried memories, thoughts, and feelings that my verbal inquiry on its own had been unable to reach." Think about that. The idea that holding a photo in your hand and discussing it can greatly enhance the therapy experience. I have seen this in my own life. When we pull out a photo album to find a picture of something we are discussing, the conversation is so much richer.
How many photos are sitting on your phone? When was the last time you sat down to put photos in frames or albums? Please give your family this gift.
Technology moves forward and makes it harder to access photos of the past when they are not printed. Remember slides? A fun, new way of experiencing family photos or reliving vacations in the 1970's. Not so easy to find the photos you are looking for in those slide carousels now. In fact, there are businesses set up to convert slides to digital images. What happens when digital technology changes? We are still able to hold and view photos printed in the 1800's and 1900's. Let's make sure that the 2000's are not lost in a digital graveyard.
I spoke all about printing options in my last post. You can find it here https://www.lisaphelanphotography.com/photo-blog/2022/2/22/yes-it-matters.
Warmest,
Lisa
