I have recently had my mother putting together family albums from old photographs. She places names and locations along with stories from years gone by. It’s quite interesting and allows me to see our family in ways that I didn’t know or remember. It got me to start looking through boxes of family photos we have in our storage room.
During this search I noticed that I have very few print photographs since switching to digital camera’s. All of our print photos are from the film age and this had me wonder, what will become of our family photographic history in this digital age. An entire generation is more photographed than at any time in history but, It’s all on Facebook, hard drives or CD. All of these mediums are great but, if 8 track tapes and 8 mm film has shown us anything, it’s that the way we will view things change quickly over time.
Hard drives, CD’s and most mediums do not stand the test of time. Most fail or will become obsolete within years. Photographic prints will last for generations. I have a great article here on the subject. Be sure to read the “learn more” tab at the end.
In addition to family photos I’m in charge of our class reunions. I have administered a web site for our class (class of ’75) and have copied and transferred a lot of great old photos from our high school days. Found some old photos of places that we used to hang out and that don’t exist any more. These images are priceless to me. Imagine if they no longer existed, what a loss.
Over the last few year’s I’ve personally witnessed a decline in the number of seniors who are having “Senior Photos” taken. And many of those that still do are accepting inferior quality, as though, cheaper is good enough. I have even heard in one high school in the country that is no longer producing a yearbook. The number of students having photographs taken is shrinking and those who are buying yearbooks have been lower as well. It simply costs too much to produce.
As the linked article states, be sure to make prints and photo albums of your family. Include photos of places you like to visit and that have meaning to you now. This is the only true way you can be sure to keep your family heritage alive in order to pass it down to your children.
Finally, be sure to include wall portraits of your family that are captured by a professional photographer. Someone that understands lighting, composition and that will preserve your family in the best way for generations.
