Friday, January 19, 2018 by
Maria Angelopoulos Photogrpahy
I’ve heard and read stories of phones taking ‘a plunge’ or going for an unexpected ‘swim’ but I have been lucky enough to say that that has never happened to me… well until yesterday ;( My trusty iPhone that I keep putting off on upgrading finally took a plunge ;( My first thought was that I hadn’t backed up the images and video on it and I would lose all those memories. I’m usually really good at backing up my pictures from my ‘real’ camera. I have at least 2 copies at all times. But I’m admittedly not as good about it with my phone. But that got me thinking about digital pictures in general. I have posted on FB before about the importance of printing images and not just keeping them on a phone or hard drive. How technology changes and someday when you, your children or grandchildren go looking for an image they will either not be able to access the ‘old’ technology the images are stored on or have to spend days or weeks sorting through thousands of images to find something they want, IF they can even find your old devices.
Over the holidays I printed off pictures and framed them for my parents and MIL… it is something we often do because they love to have hard copies. Yes they can see them on FB or online but to them it’s not the same as having a hard copy. There is something special about being able to hold that image. Some would say it’s because they are more traditional or not as comfortable with technology and although there is some truth to that I think it is also because they know the value of a printed image. They know that someday that image will be in an album or a box that their grandchildren and even great grandchildren will come across and ask questions about. Isn’t that the value in an image? To capture a memory or an image of a loved one that we can look back on, share stories about and pass on that legacy? I think it is.
Back to my phone… before I turned it off and put in a bag of rice in the hopes of saving it, I did manage to hook it up to my PC and backup all the images and videos. I was relieved. And this weekend I’m going to spend some time sorting through those images and finding ones that I will print off and put on my new display wall! More about that in a future post.
For now, I hope you all take a moment to consider printing off some of your memories for future generations. It doesn’t take long and some day will be greatly appreciated. I highly recommend a professional lab that can create archival copies – yes it may cost a little more but it’s worth it… more on that on a future post too ;)