Print It!

How many of you are guilty of leaving images on your memory card and the memory card is in a drawer filled with other memory cards? Filled with images that you don't even remember and may never look at again? Before you know it, you'll experience digital rot and loss of all record that your family existed.

"Want to make sure your photograph survives your lifetime? Print it out!", says Michael Zhang in a wonderful article he wrote for PetaPixel titled "Print Your Photos Or Risk Losing Them To The Digital Dark Age" - petapixel.com/2015/02/17/print-your-photos-or-risk-losing-them-to-the-digital-dark-age-internet-pioneer-warns/. The article is an urgent reminder that in order to preserve our memories, we need to print them. Paper, if stored properly, will last longer than any digital medium and ensures that we will leave a legacy for our children and beyond.

One of the reasons I'm so passionate about photography is that my family has left behind amazing photos that date back to the late 1800s. What an amazing experience to sit and pour through books and boxes with these paper - yes, paper!! - photographs that have lasted for more than 100 years! That has been my inspiration to photograph families and children today so that the next generation will have proof that their ancestors did, in fact, exist!

My great-great-grandmother, Mary Blount Murphy, had nine children. She was widowed and raised them on her own. This family portrait dated 1906 tells many stories. It shows the strength of Mary. I can see my great-grandmother in the top right. I can trace my Blount Murphy heritage to my third cousins through this portrait. I can also see family resemblances.

Now, go print your digital images! If you're stuck on where to start, just let me know and I can help.