The Importance of Printing

 

Some of the calendars and booklets our children

and grandchildren have created for us.

 

This current generation has been the most photographed in history, yet will be the first since photography was invented to have no photographic history.

Think about it. Do you remember looking at family pictures when you were growing up? Was that important to you in giving you a sense of your family's history? Unless you take action, your children and grandchildren will not have that experience.

It has been estimated that more photographs are being made every day than the sum total of all the photographs made from the time photography was invented until the year 2000. Yet, where are all those millions of photos? Why are they not creating a rich photographic heritage for families all around the globe?

The answer is that they don't actually exist. They are only collections of electrical impulses in cameras, cell phones, computers, or the cloud. They have never been given actual, tangible existence. They have never been printed.

You can save those photo files on your computer hard drive, a DVD, a back-up hard drive, a flash drive, or the cloud. And you should. But those media all can deteriorate. And even if they don't, at some point in the future no one is going to have software to read those files. (Floppy discs were common only 20 or 25 years ago, but try finding a way to read them now.) But with reasonable care, prints are permanent.

You don't have to be a professional photojournalist to document the life of your family. I began with a very simple snapshot camera. The simplest digital cameras, even cell phone cameras, are capable of better sharpness and clarity than even the finest 35mm cameras we had back in the day.

So what is the best camera? The best camera is the one you have with you. One of my daughter's-in-law has an old Canon 20D, the other uses her cell phone. Both of them document their families diligently. But that's only the first step. The next is to get those digital files out of the cameras and into print. If you don't download and save those photos they will almost certainly be lost.

So -- make prints! There are many online labs to which you can send your files for printing, or you can order prints at your neighborhood drug store or WalMart. Or you can take advantage of a gift of the digital age and have your photo files printed into booklets by online companies such as Blurb, Shutterfly, and many others. Those companies also make calendars, and so, each year for many years, daughter-in-law Bonnie has given Louise and me a calendar full of family pictures.

Early in her marriage to my friend Ben, Kelley Hoagland began printing booklets of their travels and other events. As their three daughters were born she kept on photographing and making more booklets. Her girls will have a comprehensive photo-history for themselves and their descendants.

(Along the way, Kelley, who trained as an occupational therapist, found that photography was the missing creative outlet in her life and is now a very fine family and wedding photographer.)

Photograph and text copyright 2021 David B. Jenkins

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

Tags: photography, film photography, digital photography, cameras, cell phone cameras, Dave Jenkins, David B. Jenkins,  family photography, prints, albums, Blurb, Shutterfly