The Importance of Printing | Destination Wedding Photographers

I’ve heard this current generation is the most highly photographed generation. Ever. With almost everyone having a cell phone with a camera, photos are easily ready to be taken. No more rolls of film to be developed. They can be shared within seconds to every social media platform available. It’s really quite awesome if you think about it.

BUT – will those photos still be accessible in 10 years? 20? When they have children or grandchildren? One of my favorite activities as a child when I visited my grandparents was to drag out every photo I could find and spend hours looking through old photos. Will our future generations be able to do the same? Yes, digital is nice. It’s convenient. However, hard drives fail. USB’s stop working. Clouds shut down and delete saved albums. Computer systems become obsolete. Technology keeps changing. Most new computers no longer include a CD/DVD drive. Most external hard drives last about 5 years. If you’re lucky.

One thing remains constant. Printed photos. If they are stored and cared for properly, they can last many generations. Below are scanned copies of my grandparents’ weddings. I have these, because they have physical prints.

Because of this, I am going to start limiting digital images and adding physical prints. I want you and your family to enjoy your photos for years to come. Plus, our photos just look SO MUCH BETTER printed. Seriously. Even I am blown away with them. A quick story –

I started my photography business 12 years ago in North Carolina. My very first client ever was Amber and her oldest daughter. I had photographed two sessions with her daughter, one with her daughter, sister-in-law and niece and one for her maternity session for her second daughter. When her second daughter was born, I went to her home to take some newborn photos. When I walked in, I immediately noticed a very large, nicely framed portrait of her oldest daughter hanging on the wall. I stopped in my tracks. I said, “WOW! That’s a gorgeous picture!” She laughed at me and told me I was funny. At first, I was confused. Then, I looked, again. IT WAS *MY* PHOTO!!! I was completely blown away! I typically only see the photos on a computer. It’s truly humbling to see them in print – and in such a large print in a prominent place in the house.

I have seen way too many posts on Facebook about losing photos. I have seen comments of, “My computer just crashed and we lost 5 years of our child’s life. They were all on Facebook.” Or – “My phone was lost/broken/died/insert reason here. ALL of our family photos were on there – vacation, kids, memories…” It makes me sad. I can’t say it or stress it enough – even back ups fail. So get those photos printed! Just like Taylore (she was kind enough to send these cell phone photos for me to share in this post)…