The Good Ol' Days

Do you remember when you put film in your camera?  Once you came to the allotted number of exposures (less than 40) you had to take or mail that film somewhere to actually see your pictures. It required patience. Wasn't it exciting to go pick up your prints OR find them in your mailbox??

What did every single company do with your roll of film?  They printed your pictures on PAPER!!!  And some places would make two or more copies of every photo so you could give extras to your family and friends. We put the pictures in albums or frames or in a box or a drawer somewhere. They were available to look at without a device.                              

FAST FORWARD ......  Now you have a digital camera and you take more pictures than ever. You get carried away and take photos of everything and it's fun!!!  BUT are they printed on PAPER??? Can you show them to anyone without carrying your camera or your computer with you? OK, you post a couple to facebook. Maybe you even use an online company to share with family that's far away. That's very cool. I actually joined facebook just to see pictures. It's been a pleasure to see weddings and babies and the every day life of people I don't get to see every day. What would happen if we were together in person?  Would you show me your memories on your computer screen?  Ask someone over 40 ... it's not the same.

I miss paper pictures. 

"PRINT YOUR PICTURES" is kind of a soapbox of mine. It just seems like a massive amount of photo memories are bound to get lost and forgotten over time as we trust them to live on forever out in cyberspace somewhere. So I stand firmly on that soapbox ready to "preach it" to anyone who will listen. I want to make sure paper pictures don't get become a thing of the past. 

Don't worry ..... I'm just as guilty as you are. Let's help each other. I'll get pictures printed if you will. "It's so overwhelming!!!" Yes it is. Some people are years behind. It's hard to imagine catching up OR paying for all of those pictures. Here's my advice and this week I'm going to follow it. 

Start with NOW ... take a look at the photos from your most recent event or download. Print the top 10 pictures of that event and pat yourself on the back. You've gotten started. It shouldn't cost you much more than a dollar depending on where you shop. If you did 10 pictures a week you'd have over 500 pictures printed in a year.  People will be impressed and ask you how you did it. A wave will start of people printing pictures on paper just one event at a time. 

WOO HOO ... it's a paper picture revolution. Mr. Eastman would be proud.