If you’ve been on social media at all in the last week, you’ve probably seen what seems like everyone posting their 2009 vs 2019 photos - and some equally as entertaining memes too! Now raise your hand if you automatically knew you had to go digging through Facebook for a photo from 2009. I can admit that ever since I got my first digital camera in college I’ve been terrible about getting photos printed. Except for the few times in college that I still grabbed a disposable film camera before going out, I wasn’t diligent about printing my photos until the last year or two. And let’s be honest, I still have a few of those disposable cameras sitting around the house just waiting to be developed… yikes! So today I want to take a few minutes to explain how I approach my photo-printing these days, my why behind it, and why I encourage you to print your photos off too!

Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa’s - circa 1994

Growing up, I remember the thrill of getting to look through the picture drawer. I loved getting to see pictures of myself as a baby, my parents on their wedding day, family members on trips together, etc. And I also loved asking my parents about the pictures and hearing the stories behind them. In fact, when I think about all of those ‘family legend’ stories, I almost always can relate it back to a picture from the picture drawer and a story that went with it. As I’ve gotten older those pictures have more and more value to me. Getting older has also meant the loss of loved ones and this brings me to two points - I not only have pictures of my loved ones to look back at and reminisce on, but I’ve also realized that when it comes to inheriting possessions from those I love, the only things I’m truly drawn to are the photos. The family history that they hold speaks to my tradition-loving heart so much.

Fun story - my great uncle always had a camera handy at family gatherings and holidays. I remember him always talking to my grandpa about the specs and gear and being super excited by it, but I never thought much of it. Once in college I went to visit him after returning home from a trip to Europe to show him my pictures. Digital cameras were just becoming popular and I was explaining to him how memory cards worked and he was really intrigued and asking a lot of questions. At the time, I wasn’t even really considering becoming a photographer, but I remember leaving and thinking, “man, Uncle Norm really gets into cameras!” Well, fast forward a few years and Uncle Norm has passed. As we were going through his belongings we came across his photos. We took them home and looked through them later that night and as we did everything started to make sense. There were old professional photos in the box with his last name imprinted in the corner. One in particular stood out - it was a portrait of a beautiful woman. A little more digging and reading the back of photos and we realized that the woman was Uncle Norm’s mom and the photo had been taken by his father who was a professional photographer in the area. WOW! I never knew, and he probably had no reason to think that information would spark my interest. And honestly, it may not have at the time. But now? Now I wish I had just one more day with him to talk all things cameras and photography!

OK so back on task - I think it’s super important to print a physical copy of your photos! I know so many people love to use social media as their preferred method for cataloging their life, but it honestly makes me cringe. Not because people are posting about their life (I LOVE that part of it!), but because I always have this little voice in my head saying “What if FB/Instagram, etc failed to exist tomorrow? What if social media crashed and your photos were lost? Would you be able to show your kids the things you did before them? Would they have any printed photos of their childhood?” Those are the things that keep me up at night (only half joking ;) ). What pieces of your story would be missing for the next generation if social media failed to exist tomorrow? Of course having a hard copy of your photos isn’t fail proof. There are events and natural disasters that occur that can destroy printed photos. I personally think a printed copy with an organized digital backup is the best way to go!

So what is my preferred plan of attack for printing digital photos? Well, I’ll be completely honest and say it’s a work in progress, but here’s my approach:

Photo album from our Minneapolis trip and a couple prints from Black River Lodge circa 1990

File digital photos by year and then month. I create a month folder inside of the year folder. If it’s an important event where I want to make note of it later or there are a lot of photos, I will create a subfolder inside the month folder and name it with the event. So the path might look something like 2019->June->Nashville Family Vacation.
If I’ve paid for a photo session from another photographer, I will create a photo album with the photos from our session. I love mPix for this!
Trips also get their own album!
I create family yearbooks by calendar year for all of the fun things we did over the year. I’m planning to print these at Blurb Books!
Get individual prints made for any decor items, gifts, frames, etc.
I save all of my files on an external hard drive (this is the one I have) and then back them up to Dropbox (any cloud storage will work).

Whew! That was a long post and a lot of words - hopefully you’ve enjoyed the scanned in throwback photos along the way! As a bonus, I’ve got a few tips to help you start getting those photos off the screen and into your hands and the hands of those you love!

PRO TIP #1: You don’t have to print every single photo you take. Trust me, I understand the urge to do that, but to make it less overwhelming, just choose a few of your favorite photos from a set that you want to be sure have a chance of being passed down to future generations.

PRO TIP #2: It is totally ok to design your albums/cards/prints on the website of your chosen vendor, create an account, save your work, and sit back and wait for an awesome sale to go live! When that happens, just pop into your account and click Order! My favorite sales are 40% off or more or when additional pages are free! PSA: Black Friday is this week!

PRO TIP #3: Printed photos of any kind make excellent gifts. Grandparents especially love them!

PRO TIP #4: Keep this free list of my favorite vendors and products handy at all times! You can grab it here.

Happy story-telling my friends!

-Jenna