It’s a funny thing actually, but I can look at photos from when I was growing up and still remember the moment when those were taken. And as I look at those printed photos, I also think to myself, ‘thank God my parents printed these photos.’ You see, I’ve lost all of my grandparents, great aunts, and great uncles, but I still have those photos to remember them by as well as all the good times we had together. Perhaps my sentiment runs a bit more deeply because of my family’s history. My mother, her parents, and extended family came to the United States from Cuba in 1961 with nothing but the clothes on their back and personal photos. Those photos were the greatest treasure to them. It was how they taught us about their lives, our heritage, and about other family members we were never able to meet in person because of the circumstances. You cannot put a price tag on that.
You and are very lucky to live in this digital era. I feel like we have the best of both worlds now in terms of still being able to print our photos and yes, even share them electronically with everyone. But, I fear that people are not as eager to print their memories as they were before because digital sharing has reached an all time high. It’s understandable why- it easy and exciting to have that instant gratification. But, what happens when you put that photo usb or dvd in your drawer for safe keeping? It’s easy to forget and never print from them. God forbid that the storage device goes bad or technology changes so much that you can no longer retrieve your photo files. It almost feels like we are playing Russian roulette. And cloud storage is certainly not free of risk either.
What do you value above all else when it comes to your photos? Being able to share them or being able to print and preserve them? I can’t imagine that Facebook will be around forever. Do you have all of those photos you’ve been uploading printed yet? It’s something to be mindful of, I think. Let’s not lose our treasured memories to technology…
