Why bother printing images in our digital age?
In our household we have a LOT of beautiful portraits. My patient husband gets dragged in front of the camera for a professional photoshoot with me at least once a year. I use these images as much as possible on social media; but how many times can you change your profile picture? But here’s the problem – so many of these gorgeous images have never seen the light of day – they gather digital dust and are stuck in the depths of my hard drive. Waiting, waiting.
And then there’s this handful of really special images. Our favourite portrait from our wedding. The one from our shoot just weeks before we got engaged. The self portrait that I set up the day after we moved into our first flat together. And the one from our first date almost a decade ago. Printed. Up on our walls in our home, being enjoyed every day and making us smile. Now THOSE are the precious ones.
I can imagine showing our future kid our wedding album years down the line. And that box of prints, well thumbed and gathering conversation in our living room over the years. These items are worth their weight in gold. When you print your images it’s not the paper that gives them value, but the memories attached to your portraits. It’s about the stories behind that frame and how you felt at that moment when the camera clicked.