Print Magic
If you know me at all, you know that I’m a biiiiig believer in the power of print. Since the invention of the cell phone, prints seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur, somewhat. I read an article several years ago that lamented the lack of printed photographs and stated the worry that we are in a digital dark age, where there are a gazillion photographs of everyone but in 100 years there will be very little record that we existed, as technology changes and passwords to wherever digitals are stored are lost.
I have to admit that for all of my preaching about getting photos printed, I’m not great at it myself. Yes, I print the professional stuff, but what about the everyday shots? The ones of my kids and life that I share on social media? I’m the worst. And it was brought to my attention several weeks ago when I came across a box of old prints of my kids when they were little in our garden in Pennsylvania. I was going through a fairly short lived “I’m going to organize my photos into scrapbooks” phase years ago, and I printed some photos. After realizing that it took me days to do one page, since I’m so indecisive about design elements, the phase didn’t last long—leaving me with a box of prints. So I took them out and stuck them on the counter for a bit. My kids, now teenagers, spent ages going through them! They don’t do that with my phone photos, but they leafed through the prints, spread them out, talked about them, and enjoyed them in an entirely different way than digitals. So I went out and printed a bunch of my phone photos. They’re just in a box for now—but at least they’re tangible. Each year I’ve tried to print a little album of the “Best Of.” I get behind, but at least there’s something there for my family to hold on to in years to come.
There’s something magical about holding prints in your hands.
I recently came across this photo of my grandmother, looking through family photos. She HATED having her own photos taken (as evidenced by someone taking this one from their lap so she wouldn’t notice!)but she loved leafing through family photos, organizing them, figuring out who everyone was, and reminiscing over them. But she didn’t leave much in the way of photos of her for us to do the same! The nerve! I have only one photos of her from her 20s—not as the woman who I knew. What I wouldn’t give to be able to bring her into the studio and help empower her to see that it’s OK to see herself as beautiful.
Yet another story. Some of you might not know that Roger and I have only been married for 5-1/2 years. His late wife, Marcia, passed away about 6 months before we met after a 2-year battle with cancer. The first time I went to his house, the sympathy cards were still taped to the cabinets along with her obituary from the paper—and photos covered the walls. Photos of Marcia and her kids, photos of she and Roger, photos documenting the most important and fun times of their life together. They were married over 30 years. Getting to know Marcia through those images really helped me get to know Roger. I’m not a “wallpaper the walls with photos” type of decorator, though, and as the years have gone by a few photos have been replaced with shots of my kids, Roger and I, and our new family unit together, and some have come down entirely to make room for other decorative items—but there will always be photos of Marcia up. Putting the photos always in his view helped Roger to cope and grieve, but they also helped me get to know Marcia better and navigate my way easier as a new family member. If he didn’t have access to his digitals due to storage failure or any number of other ways, he wouldn’t have had that comfort.
As a way to keep family photos displayed while still leaving room for my own decorating choices, I created this photo wall in our family room. Please excuse the dust! ha! This is Idaho in the fall after all, and I can’t dust every second to keep up! The winds around here are something ELSE this time of year, and dust blows in through the tiniest space. Anyway…that’s my excuse!
These stories are to encourage you to do two things: First of all, print your photos! Whether they’re professional photos that are worthy of walls or just cell phone photos of everyday memories, there is power in print. And secondly, exist in print yourself. Someday people will look for photos of you. They will want to show their children photos of you. Don’t deprive them of that legacy. And yes, I know we worry about our weight and our wrinkles and our other perceived imperfections. If that bothers you, find a professional photographer that you trust that knows how to pose and light to your advantage. I’m here for you! But in the end, your posterity isn’t going to be looking at the things that you worry about anyway. They’ll just be looking at YOU, and being grateful that you stepped outside your comfort zone, took a deep breath, and loved them enough to leave your image behind.