Your Memories Deserve more than a Screen

Today, while speaking to my networking group, I found myself talking about something I believe very strongly as a photographer: capturing our memories is important—but so is printing them.

We take more photographs today than ever before.

Our phones are filled with birthdays, vacations, first days of school, graduations, family gatherings and thousands of everyday moments. We photograph the people we love because somewhere inside, we know how quickly life changes.

But then what happens to those photographs?

Too often, they stay on a phone, computer or hard drive—looked at for a few days and then slowly buried beneath hundreds of newer images.

Your family's memories deserve more than that.

Capturing the Memory Is Only the Beginning

When I photograph a family, my goal isn't simply to create a beautiful photograph.

I want to capture you.

The way your child laughs. The way your family fits together. The personality of your senior at this exact moment in their life. The connection between generations.

Because five, ten or twenty years from now, those little things will mean even more than they do today.

But capturing that memory is only the first part.

Printing it gives that memory a place in your home—and in your family's story.

Imagine Seeing It Every Day

Think about walking through your home and seeing a beautiful portrait of your family hanging on the wall.

Not buried in your camera roll.

Not sitting in a folder on your computer.

Right there, where you can enjoy it every single day.

Your children see it.

Your grandchildren see it.

Visitors to your home see it.

And without saying a word, that portrait says:

This is our family.This is where you belong.These are the people we love.

That is why I believe so strongly in creating printed portraits.

One Day, That Portrait Will Mean Even More

There is something else about printed photographs that we don't always think about when we're creating them.

Their value grows with time.

The family portrait hanging in your home today may simply make you smile when you walk past it.

Twenty years from now, it could become one of your family's most treasured possessions.

Someday your children may point to it and tell their children, "That's your grandmother," or "Look how little we were!"

That's when a photograph becomes more than a photograph.

It becomes part of your family's legacy.

Don't Wait for the "Perfect" Time

One of the biggest reasons families put off portraits is because they're waiting.

Waiting to lose a few pounds.

Waiting until life slows down.

Waiting until everyone's schedules magically line up.

Waiting until the kids are a little older.

But life doesn't wait.

The missing tooth becomes a grown-up smile. The little boy becomes a high school senior. Children leave home. Families grow and change.

The perfect time to photograph the people you love is while they're right here, exactly as they are.

Create Something You Can Hold Onto

Digital images absolutely have their place. They're wonderful for sharing with family and friends and preserving additional photographs from your session.