In the age of digital this and electronic that, the power and importance of printed photographs has been seemingly tossed to the way side with little regard. I often fall prey to the digital monster so to speak, spending so much time viewing and posting to Instagram and Facebook. But as I considered the power behind printed photographs, I ask that you take a second to do it as well.

Think about your home for second – consider how it would feel if you didn’t have any photographs on the wall, the mantle, or the refrigerator. Would it feel like home? Would you feel like something was missing, some connection to your family or to the past?

If you have guests to your home, take another second and consider what if all you had were the digital photos on your computer, and the hard drive crashed and you lost all of those special photos?

It’s proven that properly printed photographs stand the test of time. Take a look at any museum or library, and I can almost guarantee they have photos over 100 years old. How about the photos in your families photo album; how far back to do they go?

The more digital files are copied, moved, backed up, etc. The quality of the photo degrades. No matter how much you try to recover the file the quality won’t be what it once was. And once that digital photo is gone, it’s gone. Properly printed photos on the other hand tend to survive much longer, and under harsh conditions. Consider the following for just a moment:

- Printed photos can be reproduced. I can make a digital copy of a printed photo and print more photos.

- Printed photos which are damaged can often be restored and possibly even fully recovered.


Properly printed photos are priceless, tangible, and contain memories of, feelings about, and insight into our past - connections which are greatly diminished when all we have of those memories are these digital files.

What does a printed photo mean to you?

When was the last time you had a photo actually printed?