Digital Files vs. PRINTS!

One of the most common questions photographers are asked today is: "Can I just have the digital files?" Many photographers offer packages that just include digital files. They show up, shoot a scene, process the files, hand them over and business is done. The next question is...... what happens next?

I've been approached before by people who bought this specific option. They've been sitting looking at the files online or off the flash drive and just don't know what to print or how! I've seen people so frustrated and overwhelmed by the choices that they just do nothing. And so the file sits on a drive or on a cloud. 

What many people don't understand is that digital data DOES decay over time. Storage drives fail. Flash drives fail. Every time a file is moved from place to place data is degraded. As a culture, we've put too much stock in the fact that digital data is permanent. There are ways to prevent data loss, most aren't permanent or fool proof, etc. 

I have digital photography files saved from as early as 2005. Digital files I had saved prior to that are no longer accessible. In 2010, while moving data from a computer to a backup server the data was corrupted and the server died without my knowledge. I lost a year's worth of files- including much of my youngest son's first year pictures. These kind of losses can be heart-wrenching. 

Have you ever met survivors of natural disasters and heard them speak of the loss of family photo albums, grandma's pictures that were on the wall, baby photos, etc.? They are heart broken. There are entire businesses devoted solely to restoring, copying and reprinting damaged photos. 

Let's take a step back for a minute. How did we go from taking our film to the printer and being excited to get the prints back- to putting digital files on a drive and doing nothing more? I am very guilty of this myself. From 2005-2007, our family had an amazing opportunity to live overseas. There are 100s of files stored on my backup drives from that era. Stored, until recently. 

For my oldest son's birthday, I made a photo book, printed it and gifted it to him. Take at look at the response. (Apologies for the low light/poor quality- he's a grown man now and I have to work around his schedule!)

"I didn't know you had a picture of that!"

He was thrilled and honestly, I was too! 

Even 10 years ago we had excellent scanning technology. Once pictures were in print, replicating them at the same quality was better than maintaining digital storage. Even printing in book form, these could all be scanned and reprinted. If my backup drives fail or the data is corrupted, these will still be available. 

What photographs do you have around the house that you treasure?  

This is me with my grandmother taken in the 70s. It hung in her hallway for years and not long ago she gave it to me. It's a treasure. 

Photos of my grandfather and grandmother taken in the 40s. 

These photos can't be taken again, but they've held up very well over time and they bring me a great amount of joy. 

Photos do decay over time, but it's fascinating to me how well photographic prints from the 1800's have held up! There are some types of prints that didn't do as well, but take a look at what I have stored away. Here are a variety of paper prints, ranging around the turn of the century to the 1920's most likely. 

This photo is dated 1918 as evident from the WWI uniform. 

Three examples of tin-types. Tin type prints ranged from the mid 1800's to 1930. The one on the left suffered a crease at some point and you can see the damage. You can still make out the faces. Most of the degradation of these prints is from handling and long term poor storage. I'm amazed at the quality. 

So, what's my point? 

Before pouring time and money into digital files, make a plan to print them. I feel like we've moved into the digital dark ages. Twenty years from now, will data we have stored still be readable? Do you have files waiting to be printed? Do it! Yes, print the silly faces your kids made, print the events that they participated in, print birthday pictures and print pictures of the first day of school. Twenty years from now when you want to see those images, you will have a hard copy to look at easily. 

I really enjoy helping clients find ways to display their prints in their home. One question I ask a potential client is what the end purpose is for the images I'm creating. This helps me be more purposeful with planning and shooting. Looking at a client's wall space and designing a plan is part of the shoot. Let me help you make and print images!