Why do we take photographs? We take photographs to preserve a memory; of a person close to us, a significant event, a special place. There are a lot of reasons. With the proliferation of digital photography we take thousand more photographs than we did in the days when everyone used film. This is a wonderful endeavor. However my guess is most of the photographs taken today will never be seen by anyone other than the maker, and only then when the image is made.
Recently some of us in the club sponsored a photo workshop with the local 4H Club in Trenton. We had a great time with those kids. Several of them had their own cameras, or their Mom's camera. One lad I remember was using his Mom's camera. When we were finished shooting for the day we wanted to download the images to a computer and view them on the screen. This young fellow's camera had more than 2200 photographs on the card going back to 2009! Most of them were of him as he was growing up. What are the chances his children will one day be able to view those photographs? Nil. If they stay on that camera they will be lost. That is a guarantee. All electronic devices can fail. How easy is it to simply lose that camera? Drop it into some water? When that happens all those photos will likely be lost.
So what is the solution? Simple. Print them! It doesn't matter where they are printed; just print them. I do not mean to print every photograph, but those of your family, your friends, special events, special places. Think about why we take photographs. To preserve a memory.
I was at a symposium with PPofNC a few years ago. A fellow from one of the camera stores was passing out a new Delkin CD for backing up images. I still have it, and keep it for illustration purposes. There is a note on the cover that it will store your digital images safely for 300 years. 300 years! How wonderful! But then....................who cares! That is an unenforceable guarantee anyway. And who really believes that in even 50 years there will be an ability to even read that CD? This is marketing, without practical application. Think about it.
Recently some of us in the club sponsored a photo workshop with the local 4H Club in Trenton. We had a great time with those kids. Several of them had their own cameras, or their Mom's camera. One lad I remember was using his Mom's camera. When we were finished shooting for the day we wanted to download the images to a computer and view them on the screen. This young fellow's camera had more than 2200 photographs on the card going back to 2009! Most of them were of him as he was growing up. What are the chances his children will one day be able to view those photographs? Nil. If they stay on that camera they will be lost. That is a guarantee. All electronic devices can fail. How easy is it to simply lose that camera? Drop it into some water? When that happens all those photos will likely be lost.
So what is the solution? Simple. Print them! It doesn't matter where they are printed; just print them. I do not mean to print every photograph, but those of your family, your friends, special events, special places. Think about why we take photographs. To preserve a memory.
I was at a symposium with PPofNC a few years ago. A fellow from one of the camera stores was passing out a new Delkin CD for backing up images. I still have it, and keep it for illustration purposes. There is a note on the cover that it will store your digital images safely for 300 years. 300 years! How wonderful! But then....................who cares! That is an unenforceable guarantee anyway. And who really believes that in even 50 years there will be an ability to even read that CD? This is marketing, without practical application. Think about it.
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