I want you to take a moment, just one second away from your busy life and think about something for me. Do you have a favorite photograph, one that you keep going back to over and over again because it does nothing but touch that special place in your heart? What is it a photo of? Now, answer this... is it printed? Not on your iPhone, or your computer, no other form, just printed? How many of your images are, if any at all? How odd would it be to imagine life now without cell phones, computers, tablets, or social media. How different would it be. It makes me wonder, with this huge trend of 'I only want the digital files', what are they actually used for? After many long, sleepless nights of reading countless articles about whether or not selling digital files is the 'correct thing to do', I gave up. The truth is, it would be hard to survive as a photographer in this technology driven world if you did not provide images on a hard-drive. I 100% agree that images on these forms of storage have their benefits, but as a high-end photographer, I do not want to be another 'turn-and-burn' photographer. I believe you deserve more than that.
My question is, don't you think your photographs would look better in a frame than in your desk drawer collecting dust? Or better hanging on your living room wall than displayed as your ever-changing profile picture? A custom album tells a full story, front to back, including all of your images from your photography session for your eyes to see and your hands to feel. Doesn't your story deserve to be in a book? Please, print your photos.
We are so overwhelmed by technology that our lifestyle rarely ever accounts for anything other than what can be seen on a device. What happens when we grow old, and our children have nothing to remember us by. Nothing to actually hold in their hand, close to their heart? Will you wish then, that you hand printed those memories now? Looking into the future, will computers still read USB's? Will there even be such a thing as Facebook? Will you honestly reflect back to that image once on your social media account and remember the amount of 'likes' you received? There is so much more, more that I would love to give you.
My hope for you, for myself, and for this world, is to take a step back. Remember what is important. I hope to someday pass on printed photographs, perhaps even with bent edges and stained fingerprints, I don't care, to my children. I want to have my handwriting on the back, telling them just how much I love them, and why it means so much for me to share this image with them. A true piece of my heart that I want them to hold in their hand forever. xo
