I have boxes and boxes full of old photos – albums, slides, negatives, undeveloped rolls of film. My Poppy was the type of person that always had a camera in his hand and documented every random little moment of our lives. I remember my uncle joking that we should put together albums full of just dinner pictures. a chronological record of all of us sitting in the same spots in the same dining room over a span of 20 years, holding up our glasses in a posed “cheers!”
My dad also loved taking pictures and videos of our day-to-day life. I can still picture him waving to me with one hand, video camera in the other, as I rode endless figure-8’s around a parking lot on my bike, finally having worked up the courage to let him stop running alongside me and let go.
Today, the walls (and every other surface, nook, and cranny) in my home are covered with photos of moments or places or people that have marked my life somehow. I love to lay on the floor flipping through albums full of pictures of my Nanny and Poppy as teenagers, or the Frank Zappa concert my dad shot from the front row in 1984. Printed photos are such a powerful way to connect through generations. My grandparents wedding photos hang above the desk where I now work to create beautiful, timeless wedding photos for other families, and I never stop feeling those butterflies of gratitude in my heart when I get to see my images hanging in the homes of the couples and families that I work with, telling a piece of their stories too.
Photos are an ever-present reminder of what’s truly important in life. They connect us to the places and the people that we love. The value of deciding to print your photographs, whether as albums for your coffee table, art for your home, or gifts for your family, is immeasurable. Don’t let your photos live their only lives on a screen. Tell your story friends, leave silly, adorable pictures of you and your love for your grandkids to treasure one day, they’ll be happy you did.