I’ve always loved looking at photographs, particularly family ones. I loved analysing who I looked like, whose genes I’ve got. If I come round yours for dinner and you get the photographs out you can guarantee I’ll look at every single one and pause over them.
Asa’s mum has a chest/trunk FULL of photographs – it’s incredible! I want to know the story behind each photo, why it was taken, who is in it, why has it been kept, what year it was from. Perhaps I’m just a nosy bugger! But seriously, each of them have such a story. I have over 20,000 photographs on my iPhone – how many times do I look at them? A fair bit I suppose. But imagine having 20,000 physical photographs in a box at home to go through. How long would that take?! Why would it take so much longer? It’s because we pause over a physical photo. When we hold it, feel it in our hands, and have no distractions from that single photograph we pause. We reflect. We remember. We engage way more over it. If you follow me on Instagram, I have probably said before, about how I’m in the process of helping my Grandma to sort her photos. Well, the problem is, we have a plan and we know what we want to achieve but each photo has such a beautiful story and no one tells it better than my Grandma, we end up spending hours and hours and not getting very far! The thing is however, I will never forget those hours spent just looking back, reflecting, listening to my Grandma’s voice as she recalls those memories. When someone sees a photograph they’ve not seen for a while, and I’m talking about a physical printed image, and their eyes light up as they reminisce on when it was taken, it transports you to that time, that emotion, that moment that would otherwise not necessarily have been remembered.
There’s a photo of myself and my friend who became my closest friend growing up and we are both crying in it. We were only little tots but seriously, our professional photograph at Olan Mills and we look so unhappy! It’s actually hilarious. Obviously I cannot remember this I was very small but when our mums see it they laugh so much.
The power of a printed photograph truly is underestimated in this digital world. A printed photograph can transport you to a time and emotion that you had in the past in a matter of seconds.
Here’s a test. Pass someone your phone, and let them look at some photos that you have taken. Take note of how long they spend looking at each photograph and how long it takes them to swipe to the next one.
Now hand them a printed photo that you’ve taken. See how long they pore over the image.
Let me know how you get on!
It’s something that as I’ve learnt more and more about photography and about people that I’m becoming increasingly and overwhelmingly passionate about.
I’m going to tell you about my mum and my little brother who was born in 2003. I was born 8 years prior to that so a lot of my childhood and baby photographs were in albums and printed already. But when he was a little tot, camera phones were starting to become more and more accessible and that’s what my mum used for him growing up. We managed to salvage a few photos from her old phones before they broke of him when he was little but not all of them.
This is what I would hate to happen to anyone who I took photos for.
When I was just starting out as a family photographer and gaining some experience, I only offered digital photography thinking that was what most people were after, which it can be what most people are after. Some of my clients sent me images of those photos printed and framed in their homes and albums which was their purpose. However, I’m certain that there are still some photos that are just at home on USB in a drawer somewhere.
The thing is, USBs only have a certain lifespan, which I wasn’t aware of. They should just solely be a delivery device for your photos to your laptop and then printed.
This is why from now on, I am offering printed images with all photography packages. It’s so key. Digital photography is great, and it’s how I’ve started learning my trade, however photos weren’t meant to be seen on a screen. It’s just how it is!
So if you’re ever wondering whether to print your photos. Just do it. It’s what they are there for and you will not regret seeing a gorgeous print of your little one on display or your wedding photographs proudly tucked into a beautiful album.
I think what puts a lot of people off is the expense, but please, if you have any doubts get in touch and I can answer your questions!
P.S. If you’ve been printed your photos I want to see!! Tag me on Instagram @caltonphotography so I can share in the beauty that is your prints.
Megan @ CP x
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