You need one…you just may not know it yet.

A few months ago I was staying in a guest room at my parent’s home on a visit.  My phone had died (I blame too much Facebook/Instagram/everything usage…) and so naturally, I was looking for something to do.  Rested on a table in the room was my parent’s wedding album.  1981….totally old school.  I flipped through the pages, yellowing from age, perhaps dissecting the lighting their photographer had used, and found myself grinning from ear to ear looking at my family, my parents at 21 years old, being goofy and silly with their friends and being so in love.     I think at that point, the importance of this heirloom hit me; REALLY hit me.

I started thinking…what if my parent’s images had been digital only?

First, there would be no way for me to look at it.  Computer technology in 1981 wasn’t so advanced (well, I guess it was at the time!).  I highly doubt USB’s will go out of use in the future, but then again, we’re also seeing the end of DVD drives in computers, and it wasn’t so long ago we were putting images on those…

Secondly, even if I could look at the images digitally, would I have been?  I think the answer is obvious.

Someday I’ll get to take their album and keep it as a reminder of them.  Quite literally, our first family heirloom.

 

I have to wonder what people are thinking nowadays.  Too many just want to run away with the digitals and call it good.   But…is that really good enough?

Maybe the funds aren’t there, or it doesn’t seem important at the time.  Both completely understandable.  Is the lure of digitals (which yes, I do still think are important and offer!) just “enough?”  What happens when it’s not enough? What happens when that itty bitty USB drive gets shoved in a drawer and lost 20…40…50 years down the road?  Are you going to be huddling around at 85 years old with your children and grandchildren, trying to focus your aging eyes on the computer screen (assuming you still can?)

Is the “here and now” culture of 2014 too shortsighted to see what these products will actually mean to family and friends in the future?  What happens when  your 31 year old is staying at your house, feeling nostalgic, and goes to bed not ever knowing how beautiful of a wedding day it was, because those precious digitals are tucked away or gone for good?

 

 

The bottom line is, I never want to be salesy when I show my potential and current clients my sample albums and products. I hate the hard sell, and that is never my intent.  I truly enjoy providing the service of designing, ordering, and providing my clients with this amazing heirloom.  The above image is of a sample album I recently received from my lab in New York.  11×14 horizontal “Luxe” Album, custom canvas cover, and 30 gorgeous photographic pages.  There are albums to fit every budget, but the most important thing is to just have one, period.

If you’d like to see the blog from Abby & Scott’s gorgeous spring wedding, click here!